XANA's Curse
by AnimeNinja33
Summary: When Elie Simmons transfers to Kadic Junior High, she wanted to leave her past behind her. But when she meets an odd group of friends, she finds out that trouble has a way of fallowing you. What is she running from, and what is her connection to Lyoko? (OC X Odd)
1. XANA's Curse Part 1: A New Start

Elie Simmons sat outside the office of Kadic Junior High, fingering her new short black hair and examining her reflection in the trophy case next to her. She liked the new style she had, though she'd never would have thought she'd liked it before. Her black shirt, red gloves and baggy black pants hid her full figure well. The new punk hair style, which was shoulder length when down, but was currently up in twin buns with her long bangs hanging down, showed off the new streaks of red nicely. She looked like a normal American punk-goth teen.  
Maybe that put her a bit out of place now that she lived in Paris, France, but she didn't care. Over all, the city wasn't too different from her home in Atlanta. There were a lot trees in some places, a fairly decent park down the road, the road signs confused her and most of all, there were people. Lots of people.  
The school it's self wasn't all bad. The campus was nice and if she needed anything, she was only a few minuets walk from the Shopping District.  
"Alright then." She heard the School's Principal say from inside the room. "She's registered, but I am confused about one thing. Her transcript… ah, I'm sure it's nothing." He said. "I'll have someone show her to her room. You're sure you want to pay the extra money for her to room alone?" there was a pause and the principal walked out of the room. "Alright, Miss Elie, you are registered. Next term starts in 3 days. Please use this time to learn your schedule and get to know the school."  
Elie nodded and said "Thank you." in her soft whisper of a voice.  
The older man handed her a key and told her "You don't have to be shy, Elie. We don't bite." He laughed and she simply nodded, avoiding his eyes. He seemed to be disappointed by this. "Well, then… um, I'll send someone soon to show you to your room. You already know the rules and what's expected of you, yes? Good. Welcome to Kadic Junior High School."  
Once the principal had left, the FBI agent who was pretending to be her father walked out of the room. "Elie, are you alright?" Elie nodded and looked up at him. "I know this is hard for you, but you don't have to be so on guard here. These people aren't going to hurt you. The school has a good reputation, and I checked it out myself."  
"Alright, Mr. Simmons… I'll try, but I can't make any promises."  
"I know, Elie. You're a brave kid for doing what you did. We owe you big time for it." He smiled at her, then frowned. "Your contact is off a bit. I can see some yellow around the top."  
Elie sighed at this and pulled out a small mirror from her pocket to fix it. This was the one thing she didn't like about her new look. Her naturally golden eyes were hidden behind dull brown contacts. Once the gold was hidden, she put the mirror back into her pocket.  
"Good luck, Kid." Mr. Simmons said. "If you need me, you've got my numbers, and I have an apartment not to far from here."  
"Why can't I just live with you instead of boarding here?" she asked.  
"Because it's easier for us to keep an eye on you here. I can't have someone fallowing you to and from school at the time. It would look suspicious. Besides, there are lots of kids to board here even though their parent's don't live far away."  
Elie simply nodded again, and then looked down the hall to see a girl with black hair and a pink and orange shirt walking up to her. "Hi! You must be the new girl. I'm Sissy, the Principal's daughter. I'm so glad you'll be attending school with us." She said with a smile. Elie wasn't fooled. She could tell that this girl was trouble waiting to happen. "The Dorms are this way. Fallow me."  
Elie picked up her black suitcase and fallowed, casting a single glance back at Mr. Simmons. The man smiled encouragingly at her before walking the other direction and out of the school grounds.  
Sissy waited until they were alone before turning on the girl and saying bluntly. "Alright, little miss Gothic; we've got to get a few things straight. First of all, I'm in charge of this school. That means you have to do exactly as I say. Second, I don't want you hanging around me. I've got a reputation to uphold after all! Third-"  
"Shut up." Elie said very quietly. "You may be the Principal's little girl, but that's no reason for me to fear you or listen to what you say." She didn't look at the girl as she said this, but her voice was firm. "Thank you, but I believe I can find the dorms on my own."  
With that, Elie walked right past the fuming girl. About five steps later, she said "You have no idea who you're messing with! I can ruin you at this school! You hear me?!"  
Elie turned and looked the girl squarely in the eyes. "It took you that long to come up with that? I was right; there really isn't any reason to listen to you." Elie then turned and continued calmly out of the hall.  
"Nice work." A boy's voice said once she turned a corner. Standing in front of her was a boy with blond hair and glasses. "A good choice in enemies. Sissy's not the best person to be friends with. My name's Jeremy. And you are…?"  
'Wishing I had my knives.' She thought, missing the feel of cold metal where her wrist knives used to be. She would even have settled for a piece of shit pocket knife, just to make her feel better. As it was… "…Elie." She said dismissively.  
"Nice to meet you Elie. So, you're new? Do you need any help?" Jeremy asked. Unlike Sissy, Jeremy seemed nice enough. She didn't feel like he was after something when he asked like she had with Sissy.  
"I'm not sure where the Dorms are." She confessed. "But I think I can find them."  
"Really? Because it's no trouble. I'm on my way to my dorm right now." He persisted. Elie gave in with a soft "alright" and she fallowed Jeremy to a large pale brick building.  
"So, where are you from?" Jeremy asked.  
"America." She said, staring at the floor.  
"Oh, are you an exchange student? Or did you move here?"  
"Both, I guess. I was just going to be an Exchange student, but my Dad said it was too good of a school to stay at only one semester… so he moved here with me."  
"Then why don't you just live with him instead of boarding? You'd probably eat better, at least."  
Elie sighed. Why was he asking so many questions? "Dad works a lot, so he's not home much. It's just better this way."  
Jeremy didn't reply until they both got to the top of the stairs. "The girl's dorms are on this floor. The boys are on the floor below this. Think you can find your room from here?" he asked with a smile.  
"Yes, I think so…. Thank you, Jeremy." She said carefully as she turned right down the hall. She looked at the numbers next to the doors as she went. '29…31….33. Here we are.' She thought and unlocked her room door.  
Her room was plain at this point, with a closet and dresser on the left side of the room. On the right she found a twin bed without sheets on it. At the foot of the bed, there was a nightstand. On the back wall was a large desk. If she could, she'd move the night stand to the other side of the bed so it was between her and the door, but still against a wall. Elie decided to fill the empty space with another table/desk. She could use the new table to put her CD stands on, and she'd probably put her printer there as well. Her laptop, the latest model with more memory then most people would ever need, would go on that desk aswell. Her desk top, with her mixing software and such, would go onto the original desk. Next to that, Elie could put her sound board and other recording equipment.  
Once the plan was made, she set her suitcase on the empty bed and moved the night stand. With a small smile, she found that it fit the space between the bed and door perfectly. That left plenty of space for the other desk, whenever it got there.  
The girl glanced out the window, hoping to see Mr. Simmons' car pulling up with the rest of her things, but all she saw were the kids who hadn't gone away during the brake between semesters talking or wandering around.  
Left with nothing to do but unpack, Elie got to work.  
The FBI had paid for Elie's new clothing. Before, she'd only had a hand full of shirts a pair of hole-filled jeans, one white dress, and a pair of shorts. When the girl found out she could get rid of her old clothes, she quickly tossed them in the trash, keeping only the t-shirt and the jeans.  
Her new wardrobe was much more to her tastes. Most of the shirts were black or red and had the names of various bands or something similar on them. Her jeans (which were various shades of blue and black) were lose around the legs but tight on the hips and, best of all, were very easy to move in. Even in the jeans, she was able to kick very high and run as fast as she could. Her shoes were World's End brand and black with various designs on them, depending on the shoe. On top of all these clothes, she also had several belts, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and gloves.  
Elie couldn't help but notice the irony. Everyone said the gang took care of you, but she had more now that she'd left then she ever had while she was with them.  
As the girl looked at her closet and wardrobe, nodding in approval, someone knocked at the door. She opened the door a crack hopping to see Mr. Simmons, but opened it anyway when she saw it was Jeremy.  
"Did you get moved in alright?" he asked. Elie nodded and he smiled at her. "It's almost time for lunch. I thought maybe you'd like to eat with me. It must be intimidating, being your first day and all."  
Elie thought about this for a moment and nodded. "Alright. Thank you."  
"Some of my friends will be getting back from vacation tomorrow. Would you like to meet them?"  
It took Elie a few moments to nod. She was supposed to make friends here, right? And Jeremy seemed ok. Maybe his friends wouldn't be too bad. As long as she didn't have to deal with a Sissy-clone, she doubted there would be any serious problems.  
"I'm glad you agreed." He said and walked down the hall, Elie fallowing not far behind. "It's been lonely without everyone here."


	2. XANA's Curse Part 2: New Friends?

Elie poked at the food, not sure if she'd heard it growl or not. 'Even if it did, I've probably eaten worse.' She decided and took a bite, then grined a bit at her folly. It didn't bite back.  
"You're brave." Jeremy said. "Almost no one will eat the Sweet Potato Casserole. To many people say it growls."  
"Thanks for the warning." She muttered after she swallowed. "It's… not that bad actually."  
"Really? He asked. She nodded and he poked his pile of orange potatoes. He shuttered slightly and moved on to the green beans. "So, I saw you don't have anything on your desk yet. Why not?"  
"Most of my stuff's not hear yet." She said and took another bite of food. "I'll have my computer set up there. When it arrives, that is."  
"You like computers?" he asked, clearly surprised.  
She nodded and muttered. "Yes. But I'm no good at programming and the like. I'm more of a musical person."  
"I'm pretty good with computers. I've got a pretty good one in my room. Do you want to see it?"  
"No. Perhaps later, but not now. I've got to wait for my stuff to arrive."  
Jeremy seemed to be saddened by this. Elie was about to apologize when someone behind her yelled out "Einstein!" Jeremy's mood brightened considerably.  
"Odd! You're back early." He said as a blond boy with his hair in one big spike came into view. "How was your visit?"  
"Not bad. Over all kinda boring, though." He said and sat next to Jeremy. "Who's this?" he asked, finally noticing Elie.  
"Odd, this is Elie. She's new. Elie, this is one of my friends, Odd Della Robbia."  
"Nice to meet you." She said carefully, not sure how to take the blond boy. He seemed ok, but far too energetic. He also seemed like a talker.  
"So, where are you from?" Odd asked and sat next to Jeremy. "Did you just transfer in?"  
"Um… Yes. I came here from America." She muttered.  
"So, the good ol' US, huh?" he smiled a bit. "I'm from Italy myself. What state?"  
Elie thought about that for a second. She couldn't remember where the school she 'transferred' from was. Pittsburgh… right? "Pennsylvania. I'm from Pittsburgh." She said finally, though she didn't look at the boys.  
Jeremy seemed to know something was up with her answer, but Odd just continued with the questions. Elie answered as best she could while keeping them to a 3 word max.  
It seemed like hours later, though in reality it was more like 15 minuets, when she heard a familiar voice call her name. She looked up and saw Mr. Simmons waiting at the door. "Excuse me." She muttered, avoiding the last question Odd sent her way. "My dad's here with my stuff." She got up and walked to him quickly, dumping her tray as she went.  
"Are you alright, Elie?" the older man asked. "You look tense."  
Elie shook her head and said softly, once they were away from most of the people. "I was… talking with some boys." She admitted. "It…." She trailed off, trying to think of the word. It was nice, over all, though Odd was a bit to curious for her liking. But she didn't feel threatened around them, which was completely new to her. "It was different." She finally decided.  
"In a good way or a bad way?" the man asked and looked down at her.  
"I don't know." She said with a deep sigh. "I really don't know."  
"It's understandable." Mr. Simmons said with a nod. "You're just not used to… er…"  
"Non-Criminal people?" She supplied for him. He had the good graces to look away and stay silent.  
"Is my stuff here yet?"  
"Yes. It's in your room, waiting for you to unpack it."  
"…Thank you." She said went to her dorm in silence. Mr. Simmons, not used to this, simply fallowed unsure of what to say.  
"Do you want help?" He asked the young girl when she got to work on her room. She shook her head. "Can I get you anything?" she shook her head again. "Alright then…" he sighed. "You're a good kid, Elie. You know that?"  
"If I'm a 'Good Kid', I'd hate to see what a 'Bad Kid' is." She said softly without looking up.  
"You really are, no mater what you've done, you didn't let it take you over. You told us about it, you gave us the key to stop The Gang. You saved a lot of people."  
"You're wrong." She said without looking up from her current box. "No mater what you think, I didn't do it be some kind of hero, or to help other people. I did it for myself."  
The man shook his head sadly and told her "If you insist. I'll see you tomorrow." and left.  
Once he was gone, she closed and locked her door. 'He really has no idea what I've done.' She thought and looked at her stuff. 'Didn't any one tell him…?' Elie shook her head and got back to work. It was WP's problem, not hers.  
It was an hour later and Elie had just finished her work. Her computer and sound equipment were on her two desks, her CDs and iPods were next to the computer on tall racks, and a scanner, printer, and other such things were there as well. The girl had taken some Simi-see-threw black cloth she'd bought and tacked it on the walls, giving the room a shadowed look to it. She had a few band posters on her black-clothed wall, and her bed was made up in black and blue sheets. On her night stand, she'd placed a Nightmare Before Christmas alarm Clock with Jack and Sally standing on the hill in the middle of the pumpkin patch. In the shelves below, there were a few books.  
She picked up one of these, Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine, and was about to read it when someone knocked on her door. She was nervous at first, and cracked open the door. She opened it up further when she saw that it was Odd and Jeremy. "Hi… err… what's up?" she asked softly.  
"Nothing much." Odd said with a half-smirk smile. "We just wanted to see how you're doing and see if you maybe needed some help." Odd took a look around the room and whistled softly. "But it looks like we're to late. Nice job, by the way."  
"Oh... thank you." Elie said and motioned that they could walk into her room. "Um... You can have a seat, if you like."  
The two boys nodded but didn't sit, almost as if they could tell she was uncomfortable.  
"Nice computer set up." Jeremy said as soon as the silence began to get uncomfortable. "And you've got a lot of Music, too."  
"Thanks. I... I like music." she muttered, looking around nervously. "Thank you for coming to check on me." Elie told the two boys as she looked up. "But... i think you should go. Isn't there a rule against this...?"  
"Only after Lights Out." Odd said and eyed her CD collection. "But if you want us to go, we can."  
"Yes..." she said softly, worried that she'd offended them. "It's just... I'm a bit tired, that's all." Elie gave them a fake yawn and said. "Maybe... we could have breakfast together?"  
Jeremy and Odd nodded, but it was Odd who said "I'd like that. I'd love to know what kinds of songs you like." Odd shot Elie a smile as he walked out. Jeremy waved.  
Elie waved back as she closed the door. Before she did, however, she heard Odd say. "Think we can trust her? I know we need some help, but... something seems off about her."  
"I'm sure. Elie may seem different, but i'm sure she's alright... But we'll ask Umi and Ulrich before we do anything."


	3. XANA's Curse Part 3: Midnight Meetings

As Odd and Jeremie walked away, Elie closed her door and glared. She had no idea what they were talking about, but she knew she didn't want anything to do with it. Clearly it was something secretive. Elie was done with things like that. After locking her door, she flopped down on her bed and looked at the discarded book. Midnight Ally was a good book, but it wasn't what she needed now. She needed her computer and the plethora of music it held. It only took a few seconds to power the computer up and get her studio headphones on. A single click of a button and she lost herself in sound.

Three hours later, she knew there was no way she was going to sleep tonight. The music had calmed her, but this place was too new. She felt exposed, even in the small room, and was quickly growing restless. Outside her window she saw the moon, not yet half way full. Below were the woods. Those would do perfectly. She slid out of her room, knowing it was well past lights out and that everyone else was asleep. If this school was worth anything, there would be a few teachers roaming the halls, but she could avoid them. She got to the stairs easily, but what she found there suprised her.

Elie could easily see Odd sneeking out in the middle of the night, he seemed like the mischevious type. But not Jeremie. Jeremie struck her as the 'By the Book' type. Seeing the two of them quietly going down the stairs only added to her suspicions. Without making a sound, she fallowed them out of the doorm building and into the woods. It didn't take long for them to reach a man hole and climbe into the sewers. She heard the sound of wheels, maybe skateboards? Once the sound had mostly faded, she climbed down to fallow them.

She'd been right about the skateboards, though she had no idea how to ride one. 'I'll just have to run to catch up with them.' The sound of plastic wheels on cement were getting quieter, and she ran. The only hard parts were when she had to leap over a chanel of water, and when she took a wrong turn and had to find the sound again. Eventually though, she found a scooter and skateboard next to a later to the surface. If she had to guess, she'd say they were about three miles away from the school.

Elie climbed quickly, just intime to see a flash of yellow and purple run into a large run down factory. Fallowing, she saw the two boys swing down on some ropes and land infront of an elevator, then go down. She had no idea how far down they went, but when the elevator stopped, she slid down the rope. The elevator shaft, much like the ones she'd seen in Attlanta, had a small matenence lader running down the side. It was perfect for her needs.

A few moments more and she stood ontop of the elevator. She heard three voices from the air vent infront of her and she peered inside to see Jeremie, Odd, and a girl with pink hair standing around what looked like some sort of large computer. Only, she'd never heard of a computer like this. There was a circular holigram in the middle of the room, and a large chair with several monitors seemed to swivle around the holigram. It didn't make any sence. What the hell was this? The pink haired girl sighed.

"So there hasn't been any progress yet?" she asked.

Jeremie shook his head. "Not yet Aelita. It's going to take time to make an anti-virus for you. But once we've finished that, it's Bye-Bye XANA." He smiled at the pink haired Aelita.

Odd yawned. "Well, I wish you'd hurry it up Einstine. All these midnight trips to Lyoko have really been cutting into my beauty sleep."

"I know Odd, but isn't this more important than a few extra hours of sleep?"

"Yeah yeah. Speaking of, Aelita let's get down there so he can get back to work." Odd waved Aelita to the Elevator and both went down. Elie's heart dropped into her stomach, but her fears were un warented. The two only went down one more level. Threw the air vent, Elie saw three odd metal tubes. Aelita walked into the one on the left, and Odd walked into the oine infront of her. The tubes closed and she heard the machines kick to life. Then the tubes opened up. The one that seconds before had held Odd was now empty save for steam which washed out of the metal casing in waves.

What the hell had just happened? Where was Odd? She turned to the other tube to find Aelita gone aswell. Tentativly she searched the tube, seeing if it was maybe some sort of elevator. The floor was solid, and there was nothing to suggest it moved. It was as if they had simply vanished.

She didn't know how long she stood there, stupidly staring at the tubes. The sound of machines turning back on jolted her back to her senses and she hid behind one of the tubes. Just in time too.

"Good run." Odd said. It sounded as if he were stretching. Elie looked at the shaddows on the wall and noted that Odd was alone. Where was Aelita? She could confront him now, but then Aelita could come back from wherever she was. Elie doubted she'd get much of a fight from them if it came to it, but she wanted to avoid that at all costs. She was saved the worry when Odd got into the elevator.

Standing from her hidding place, Elie rechecked the tubes. They were exactly the same as before. "What the fuck?" She had no idea what these guys were doing and she didn't want to. What she wanted was to get out of there and never speak to Odd or Jeremie again. But how to get out?

With the elevator gone, there was only one option: a svervice ladder on the far side of the wall. Not knowing where it went made Elie nervios, but it was the only option she had. Climbing up very quietly, she found herself looking at the back of the computer chair from before. Elie retreated a few rungs down, thanking her lucky stars that Odd and Jeremie had their backs to her.


	4. XANA's Curse Part 4: Aelita

Fifteen minuets passed by before the two boys left the computer room and went up on the elevator. Only then did Elie relax her death grip on the metal rungs and climb the rest of the way into the computer room.

It was just as she'd seen before, but the holigram in the middle was missing now. Maybe because the computer was off? The moniters were blank, but she knew just from looking at the set up that this computer was way more advanced than anything she'd seen before. It was like something out of a bad sci-fi movie where robots try to take over the world. She just shook her head and went to the elevator shaft. As she'd guessed, the elevator was far above her, blocking her exit. The boys had probably left by now, but she still waited five more minuets before calling her ride down.

Once out of the factory, Elie let herself relax and calm down. She needed to think very seriously about what she'd seen. She had to be mistaken about something, that was obvious. People just didn't vanish in metal tubes and then suddenly show back up again. It simply wasn't posible. So what had happened? And where had that Aelita girl gone?

She was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly got lost four times in the sewers. The only things that kept her from getting hoplessly lost were the dead ends. Getting back into the school proved just as easy as getting out. By the time she got back to her room, all she wanted to do was fall in bed and wake up.

This all had to be a dream. She's probably fallen asleep on her computer desk or something. All the crazy movies she'd watched with Mr. Simmons mixed with all the changes of the day had probably coelesed into this screwed up dream. She just hoped she woke up soon. After getting changed, she crawled into bed and fell into a blissful sleep.

The next morning, her alarm clock woke her up, blaring out "This is Halloween". Rather than shut the clock off, she rolled over to look at it. Six thirty on the dot. Only then did she realize that she'd never put her book away and that it was currently stuck to her cheek. Peeling it off with a groan she put it in it's place under the night stand and got up. Humming along with the song, she picked her clothes for the day. Baggy black cargo pants, a red long sleaved under shirt, and a black short sleaved over shirt with Jack and Sally on it. She put on black fingerless gloves and added a bit of jewlry to finish off her look. As she slipped on her shoes, the alarm clock started a second round of 'This is Halloween'. Turning the clock off, she went in search of the bathroom. As she'd guessed, the line was short at this hour, and she only had to wait a few moments to get a sink. Once she was cleaned up, her hair was in her usual twin bun style, her contacts properly adjusted, and her make up was finished, it was ten till seven.

Elie went back to her room to grab her bag, putting her lap top, iPod and headpones, and a few notebooks and pincels in it. Closing the black and red bag she turned to see Odd smiling and waving at her.

"Morning, Elie. Ready for breakfast?"

It brought the dream she'd had last night back. The strange computer, the girl with pink hair, and the metal tubes. 'I need to stop watching those movies...' she thought to herself, still not fully convinced it had been a dream, but doing her best to make it so. "Sure." She motioned for him to lead the way and locked the door behind her.

There were two more people at the table this morning. One was an Asian girl in all black, and the other was a moody looking boy in faded green. Odd waved at them. "Elie, this is Ulrich and Yumi. They're friends of mine and Jeremy's. They just got in last night. Guys, this is Elie. She's new here."

"Hello." Elie said, trying to sound friendly, but failing entirely.

Yumi smiled back. "Nice to meet you Elie. Nice outfit. Where'd you get it?"

"Online mostly." Elie managed a smile at this and sat down across from Yumi. Odd sat next to her, though no one had a plate yet.

"Where are you from?" Ulrich asked.

"America. I'm from Pittsburgh." She looked up at the food line, seeing that it was still empty. The people in the kitchen seemed almost ready to start serving though.

"Cool. I've never been to America before. What's it like?" Ulrich leaned forward and put his had in his hand with interest. The question drew the attention of a few people from other tables as well and they turned to look at her. "It's not so different from here. I think this city is alot cleaner. And people in general seem more friendly."

Odd grinned. "Wow, full sentences! Me and Jeremie could only get a few words from her at a time. You must be someone else." Elie just twitched her right eyebrow up at him, which made him laugh a bit.

Jeremie walked in and sat at the head of the table. "Hey guys. I see you already met Elie. So, what do you think?" Elie's guard instantly went up. Were they going to talk about that computer thing? Ulrich shook his head. "We'd have to hear what she can do first." He looked at Elie and smiled. "Do you have something now?"

She stayed silent, but gave him a very clear "What the hell are you talking about?" look. The group looked at odd with a mix of amused exasperation and annoyance. "You did talk to her, right? Before you brought her down?" Ulrich asked.

"Well... no." He said, smiling like a fool. "I wasn't sure how to bring it up, and well-"

"Never mind Odd. Elie, what they're trying to say, is we need some help. Odd and Jeremy think you're perfect for the job." Umi said. "We're a band you see. Well, sort of. But we need help with our music. It's missing something, we just don't know what yet. Odd said you've got alot of CDs and music equipment in your room. We were hopping you could help us out."

Elie relaxed very slowly. She'd never even thought of them being in a band. "Um... yeah, sure I can help."

"We'd like to hear what you can do first." Ulrich said, but Odd just waved his comment aside. "It'll be fine. Don't worry so much. Besides, they just set out the eggs. I'm going to snag some before they get cold!" With that, Odd was off, quickly fallowed by Ulrich. Yumi and Jeremy waited on her, so she fallowed as well.

This food seemed better than the lunch yesterday. Nothing growled this time at least. While the others talked about their band and what everyone did over the break, she ate and listened. Odd had been in Italy with his parents, and Yumi and her family had gone to Japan. Ulrich had been stuck with a privet tutor over break, and Jeremy had stayed at school to study.

When her turn came, she just shrugged. "I moved here." It was all the answer she'd give, though she knew they wanted more. It was the best she could come up with though. Being with all of these people made her feel twitchy and on edge, but some how it was nice. They didn't make her talk a lot, and she was happy listening to the group tell stories and laugh. It almost felt normal.

At the end of the meal, Jeremie left, saying he had something he had to work on in his room. Once at her room, Elie went to her computer. "Make yourselves at home." She said and opened up a song file. This one was one of her favorites. It was a dark song with a haunting melody and Latin chanting in the back. She'd sung this song and made the music herself with her computer. The chanting in the back came from the internet. When it was over, Yumi and Odd were nodding, but Ulrich shook his head. "Its to dark. We don't do songs like that. What else do you have?"

She thought about it for a moment. "I don't do many light songs, but try this one." She chose a new file, one that played a pop/rock song with a male voice that was made with a program. When it was over, all three nodded. "Yeah, that's perfect Elie!" Odd beamed at her and she looked away, a slight smile on her face.

"I've never played my music for anyone before. I'm glad you like it." Elie said with a bit of pride.

"You're really good. You should sell CDs!" Yumi said with an enthusiastic smile.

Elie just shook her head. "It's just a hobby. But if you like it, I'll be glad to help you guys out."

Just then, Jeremie ran into her door. "Guys, come quick! It's done!"

"Really?" Yumi asked, standing up from her bed. "Jeremie, that's wonderful!"

Odd grinned. "Elie, sorry about this, but can we come back later? We'll talk more later."

"Sure." She said, waving her hand dismissively. "Congrats on whatever it is."

The group ran out of the room and Elie fallowed a few seconds later. They went into the sewer in the woods. 'Damn. Not a dream after all.' She fallowed them to the factory just as she had the night before. She stayed on the elevator this time, even after Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi went into the odd metal tubes. When they came out ten minuets later, Aelita was with them. They went up a level and Elie listened to the conversation.

"If XANA's going to start programing more monsters, that means our troubles have only just begun." Jeremie sounded worried, though when Odd spoke he didn't sound to bothered.

"Either way Einstein, you're going to have to program our vehicles faster or we don't stand a chance against those tarantulas."

"Turan-what?" Yumi asked.

"tarantula . The new monsters. I like to give my enemies a name."

Jeremie ignored Odd and sighed. "What worries me is that our friend XANA's found a way to increase his power."

Ulrich asked. "You think he's still evolving?"

"Maybe so. In any case, we have to be ready for anything and everything." Jeremie said firmly.

"Maybe i should get back to Lyoko. If XANA activates a tower I'd better be there." Aelita said, standing up. She turned with Jeremie said "Should we tell her?"

"Well of course we should tell her!" Yumi said brightly. "Why keep good news like that a secret?"

"What good news?" Aelita asked, looking at Yumi. "Would someone please tell me what's going on?"

Jeremie grinned as he said, "Over the past few weeks I've spent all of my time developing the vehicles and working on an anti-virus to free you from XANA. And I also perfected a whole new program for detecting activated towers."

"A super-scanner." Odd put in. "Much more accurate than the old one."

"With instant detection." Jeremie said. "Meaning you don't have to stay on Lyoko all the time."

"So I'm going to live..." Aelita asked, as if she couldn't believe it.

"Here." Ulrich supplied for her. "With us. We've already enrolled you as a boarder at the school."

"Everything's all set up." Yumi said, walking over to Aelita. "We wanted to surprise you."

"But... I..." Aelita sounded like she was getting choked up. "This is so wonderful! I can't believe it!"

Just then, a rat ran across Elie's hand. To her credit, she didn't scream, but the rat made a very loud thudding sound when she tossed it against the wall. Suddenly, all attention was on the elevator, and now Elie had a pissed off rat to contend with. Getting bit was the last thing she wanted to do. Between getting shots for the bite and explaining how a rat bit her in the first place... It was just better not to get bitten. But she also had the group bellow's attention. Even now Odd and Ulrich were opening the Elevator. "It's empty." Odd said, clearly baffled.

"Check the hatch. Maybe something fell on it." Aelita suggested. Elie moved as silently as she could to sit on the hatch, though the rat took this chance to try and bite her fingers. "It won't move." Odd said, though he still pushed up against it a bit to be sure. "See if it'll still go up." It was Jeremy this time who spoke. He pressed a button for a second and the elevator moved a few inches up, then down. Just enough for her shoe to be seen by the people next to the computer. "Someone's there!"Aelita said, sounding a bit scared.

"Come out now!" Ulrich ordered.

"I can't!" Elie gave up on trying to hide. The stupid rat was attacking again and she couldn't grab it. Now that she'd given up being quiet, she banged around as she tried to catch the damned rodent that had given her away.

"What are you dong?" Odd asked, sounding confused, but some how still amused.

"Trying to catch a rat." She snapped as her fingers closed on the back of the creature's neck. Now it couldn't bite her. "Um... I'll... I'll be there in just a sec." Now what should she do...? She didn't want to admit she'd been fallowing and spying on them... but what choice did she have now?

Just one. Rather than climb down into the room, Elie started climbing the later as fast as she could. Once she was a few rungs up, she let the rat go so she could move even faster.


	5. XANA's Curse Part 5: Lyoko

Elie was a few rungs from the top of the latter when the elevator began to rise below her. She cleared the elevator shaft only a few seconds before the elevator it's self did. Instinct told her to get the hell out of here. Rather than climb up the ropes, which would leave her open and vulnerable, she ran left, and ducked behind a pile of broken junk as the elevator opened.

"Elie!" It was Odd, sounding worried. "Elie, come out. Please?" She stayed silent and didn't dare move a musle.

"She couldn't have gotten up the ropes, right?" Yumi asked. "She'd still be in here. I wish she'd have let us explane."

"Don't worry. I'm sure it'll be ok. Elie!" Odd called her name again and she could hear that the group split up to look for her. One person was comming her way. Her heart was thudding so loudly in her chest that she was sure someone would hear it. The foot steps were getting closer with every frantic beat of her heart. She had to do something or they were going to find her. "Elie, don't run." Odd turned the corner, keeping his voice low and calm. "Just listen, ok?"

She took off, running forward and leaping over a fallen pillar and turning left. Only to find herself at a dead end hallway. She spun, falling into a fighting position as Odd turned the corner, fallowed by Ulrich, then Yumi. A few seconds later, Aelita and Jeremie joined the group. The first to break the silence was Odd. "Elie, listen, ok? We-"

"Shut up." Elie snapped. "And don't come any closer." Odd's hands moved up in a placating gesture. "I have no idea what you guys are up to, or who Xana is, or whatever is going on here. I don't want to. Just back off, let me leave, and I'll keep quiet about all this." It never would have worked if she was dealing with the kind of people she used to run with, but these guys were just kids. Strange kids involved in something really screwed up, but kids none the less. She could see in their eyes they weren't like her. They wouldn't hurt her to keep their secret.

The group didn't move, though, but something in their eyes changed. It wasn't a look she was used to, but one she understood. They wouldn't hurt her; they couldn't just let her leave like this. She could fight her way threw. Odd, Ulrich and Yumi looked like the fighters in the group. Taking on three people at once, even three like them, would end badly. She was sure she could win, but...

Memories of last night and this morning made her lower her hands and relax. She didn't want to hurt them, and more than that she didn't want to lose their friendship. Even if there was some kind of huge computer down stairs and there were screwed up things going on. "OK.. I'm listening."

The group relaxed and Jeremie moved forward. "Ok. So, it's a bit complicated. But you saw the computer down stairs?" Elie nodded. "It houses a vertual world called Lyoko. We found this factory, and the super computer, months ago."

"And?" She asked, leaning against the back wall with her arms crossed over her chest.

"There's a super powerful AI we found on Lyoko named XANA. It wants to take over the world. But we also found Aelita on Lyoko."

Elie's eyes flicked to the pink haired girl. She had been a computer program...? And there was a rouge AI on the lose. This whole situation seemed like something out of a B-rated sci-fi flick.

"We didn't want to shut the computer down until we got Aelita out of Lyoko, but-"

"Why not shut it down now? I guess I can see not shutting it down before, if your friend was stuck there, but why wait now?" Elie asked. "And keep in mind, I don't belive you guys. I just can't think of anything else that makes sence."

"I get that you are sceptical, but we're telling you the truth." Odd said. Yumi and Ulrich nodded, though Elie could tell Ulrich was still on guard with her and ready to move if she did.

Elie sighed and lefted one hand to her forehead, resting the bottom of the palm against it. "Fine. But you didn't answer my question."

Aelita spoke up, "Xana gave me a virus."

"Seriously?" Elie asked, lifting her eyebrow at the group. "So, she's sick? Why does that mean you can't shut the computer down?"

"If we shut the computer down now, Aelita will die."

Ulrich's words made Elie flinch a bit and eye the group in a new light. If this was all true... "Right... so what now?" She asked, pushing off of the wall and aproaching the group. "Now that I know, what happens?"

Jeremie looked at the group, then back to Elie. "Just a sec?" Elie nodded and the group huddled together. She could hear them whispering, but not what they were saying. A moment later, the group split up and Jeremie grinned. "Will you join our group? Like we said, XANA's trying to take over the world. We fight him on Lyoko to stop him. We've always been able to handel it before, but now XANA's gotten more powerful we think. He's made new monsters on Lyoko, and we don't know when he'll attack next."

Elie thought about it for a long time. She'd done alot of bad things in her life. Maybe this was a way to make up for some of them? And she'd be helping out her friends. That word almost made her laugh. To think someone like her could already have a group of people she cared enough about to believe this mad tale. "Show me Lyoko?" She asked. "I want to see Lyoko and XANA and such before I decide."

Jeremie shook his head. "It doesn't work that way, Elie. Once you get scanned into Lyoko, you'll have to be part of the group."

She chewed on her bottom lip, then nodded reluctantly. "Yeah... Alright. I'm in. So, how do I get scanned?"

Yumi grinned and grabbed Elie's hand. "This is fantastic! Thank you so much!"

'Don't thank me yet...' she thought, smiling a bit at Yumi. "Um... your welcome...?"

"We need to go down stairs to scan you." Ulrich said, though he didn't seem nearly so pleased as the rest of the group. "Come on."

They went down the elevator, and the group showed her where to stop it to get to the computer room, and the code to put in for it, then went down to the next level where the metal tubes were. "So these are the scanners?" She asked. This time Elie didn't poke or prod any of them. Maybe it was best for now that they didn't know she'd fallowed Odd and Jeremie the night before.

"Yep. Just climb inside and we'll get you scanned."

Elie did as Odd instructed and climbed into one of the tubes. It closed around her with a hydrolic hiss. The small space wasn't dark as she'd thought it would be. Apparently the bottom and top lit up. Then wind started to slowly swirl around her, then it rushed up from the bottom of the tube. The feeling then was incredible, like nothing she'd ever felt before. It didn't hurt, but it was far from plesant. It was as if her whole body had fallen asleep in the span of a second. There was an intence tingling, then everything went numb. Then she was falling. It was only a few feet, but she landed on her butt. "Ow!" She stood up and winced, looking around at a large forest.

It wasn't a normal forest though. The ground seemed to be made of small planes of earth and grass that gave way instantly to open air. Closer examanation showed that far below the desturbingly thin ground was some sort of moveing data cluster.

It was alos then that she found her clothes had changed. Her pants were still black and baggy, but they tightened just below the knee, clinging to her. Below that she found white bandages tied arround her calfs with a single black bandage spiraling down to her ninja-like shoes. She was also wearing a rather large belt. Her mid drif was sowing, and the black shirt she wore stopped around the bottom of her rib cage, went half an inch up her neck, and had not sleaves. The gloves went up past her elbow, and looked more like ninja gauntlets than anything. She couldn't see her hair or face, but by touch she could see her face was unchanged. Her hair on the other hand was longer, styled in a high spiky ponytale in the back and shorter face-length strands framed her face and head. Over all, she thought the look was cool.

"So this is Lyoko...?" She asked herself. A voice behind her laughed. "Yep. Welcome to Lyoko Elie. What do you think?" She turned to see Odd, Ulrich and Yumi. They too had changed. Ulrich's outfit was a black and yellow ninja-samurai get up. Yumi wore a ninja-geisha outfit, compleat with topknot and facepaint. Odd's outfit was the stand out in all of it's purple modern glory. And the cat paws, tail, and ears were far from normal aswell.

"You guys look... Different." She said with her head tilted slightly to the side in thought.

"You look good! The gold eyes are really cool!" Odd beamed. Her heart sank into her stomach. Her eyes were golden? Then the contacts didn't chance her eyes here. Shit... shit... SHIT! "Poeple's look changes alot when they get scanned. Or at least ours did. Maybe you should buy some gold contacts? They'd look really cool on you!"

"Sure... maybe." She relaxed and trighed not to sigh her relife. As long as they thought it was a Lyoko only thing, her eyes didn't matter here. "So, what do you do here? Where's XANA?"

As if his name had summoned them, three blocks charged at the group from behind a group of trees near by. "Those are some of XANA's monsters. You should let us handle them this time. At least until you learn more about your avatar and what it can do." Ulrich said and got into a fighting stance.

Elie didn't get the chance to nodd or even answer. One of the blocks shot a lazor at her and her chest filled with a searing pain that left her gasping for air.

(Outfit Reference: . ))


	6. XANA's Curse Part 6: Lunch for Six

Pain filled her chest, and each motion made the pain flare with white heat. It took all she had to simply stand up. "Elie, Are you alright?" Jeremie's voice came from nowhere, but the worry in it was clear. "I've been better." She wheezed. "Does it always hurt like that?" She put her hand on her chest, expecting to find a raw wound where the laser hit her. The skin and cloth under her fingers was unblemished, though it hurt to touch still.

"It's not supposed to hurt at all. Elie, no mater what, don't get hit again!" The urgency in his voice worried her.

"Don't worry. I don't plan to." The pain had faded to something she could manage. Fire flared in her chest, but she'd worked with this sort of pain before. All she had to do was not get hit again. She could do that. But she'd be damned if she would stand by while the others fought the blocks.

If only she had some sort of knife... But you can't have everything, right? She ran forward and kicked one of the block's faces. Nothing happened. Damn it why did everyone else have a weapon? Ulrich had a sword, Yumi had a fan, and Odd was shooting arrows out of his paws.

"Elie, what are you doing? Hide!" Jeremie yelled.

"No way. I'm not going stand on the sidelines. I just need a weapon."

A few second later, Jeremie's voice came back. "You have knives in your gloves. You've only got four, so be careful."

Knives? "Perfect!" she flicked her hands back and the knives slid into her hands. The knives fit her hands as if made for her. Now she could do some damage.

"Elie, watch out! On your left!"

Odd's warning came just in time; Elie jumped to the left, narrowly avoiding a laser. "Thanks Odd!" Elie rushed forward, slashing across one of the strange bulls eye marks on the blocks, then moving to a second. Before she could attack it, Ulrich stabbed it threw the odd mark. She spun to look for the third block, but they were all destroyed now. Bits of them were fading even as she watched.

Jeremie's voice came out of nowhere again. "Elie, I'm going to devisualize you. We need to find out why you're able to feel things."

"Ok. See you back on earth?" She asked, looking at the group.

Yumi nodded and put her hand on Elie's shoulder. "Yeah. Good work. You did really well for your first time." The others gave her a thumbs up.

"Thanks." She looked away, not sure how to react now. She ended up just rubbing her hand over her arm until she felt herself fall again, though this time it was only an inch or so rather than a few feet. As a reflex she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was back in the real world. Soon the other four had joined her again and they went up to see Jeremie.

In the elevator Elie leaned against the corner, thinking about what had just happened. She had really thought this whole Lyoko thing had been a game or that they were all insane. Or worse. But now that she'd been there, well... "You guys really do this all the time? What about school?"

"We always work it out. When attacks come during school hours, we claim sick and ask to go to the infirmary." Yumi said.

"But what about homework and stuff? The teachers must have caught on by now."

"Not really." Ulrich said with a shrug. "The computer has a program that let's us go back in time. We don't really know how it works, but it lets us fix the damage after XANA attacks."

"What kind of attacks can a program do? Does he delete your homework?"

"No. Not really. XANA's done a lot of things. He filled the school with toxic gas." Ulrich said.

Yumi added, "And he tried to blow up the city."

"And he tried to crash those trains filled with toxic waist. Oh, and there was the thing when he tried to overload a nuclear power plant." Odd added. "And he attacked us with a massive swarm of rats."

Elie got paler with every story. Why hadn't they shut the computer down yet?! Her eyes caught the pink flash of Aelita's hair. That was why. No one was willing to lose her, even Elie.

Elie looked away as the elevator opened.

"So, do you know what's up with Elie yet?" Odd asked, leaning against Jeremie's chair.

"Not yet. But I'll work on it."

"How long do you think Aelita's Anti-virus will take?" Elie asked.

"I'm not sure. But until then we'll just have to keep fighting XANA. In a way, this situation is luck for us. We needed someone else to help us. Until now we've mostly been able to beat back whatever he's thrown at us, but now, I'm not so sure. There was a new monster today, and when we first tried to shut the computer down, we barely won the fight."

Elie nodded. "So, what are the monsters? What do they do exactly?"

"Well, there's the cockroaches. They're actually called the Kankrelat, but roach sounds better don't you think? They're the weakest ones." Odd said.

"And the hornets. They're kinda like the roaches, but they fly around."

Yumi nodded at Ulrich's comment, then added, "The Blocks. Those are what you fought today. They've got three attacks. A basic laser, one that freezes, and a fire attack."

"The Krabs." Aelita added. "They're really tall and the Eye of XANA is on top of it's head."

"What's the eye of XANA?" Elie asked. "That target mark on the monsters?"

Ulrich nodded. "Yeah. That's all of the monster's weak spots. The hardest one is the megatank. It shoots out a large lazor, and the only time it's weak spot is exposed is when it's charging. One hit with that, and you get devertualized."

"And now we have Tarantulas." Odd finished. "Today's the first time we'd ever seen one, so we don't know much about it. Jeremie says it's got a lot of hit points though."

Elie nodded, feeling a headache coming on.

The group exchanged a look, then Jeremie asked. "Aren't you going to tell us to call the police? That this is to dangerous and needs to be shut down?"

That started a chuckle out of her. "Oh please. As if the cops could do anything about this. Telling them would just make things worse. I'll bet you just about anything that if a cop or adult got hold of this, shutting Lyoko down would be the last thing on their mind. They'd probably want to sell tickets to go, or worse use it as a weapon. There's no way i'd tell an adult about this. Especially now."

The group seemed to relax, though Odd and Jeremie were giving her strange looks. "So, what happens now?" She asked.

"Well, with the super scanner in place, we should to back to school and get Aelita settled in. She's been there a few times before, but I'd still like to show her around again, just to be sure she knows her way." Jeremie said, touching a button that blacked the screens and made the hologram vanish.

"Right." Elie's stomach let out a loud growl and she quickly put her hand over it to silence it.

"I guess we should try to find Elie some lunch." Odd said, laughing a bit. She glared, but only half heatedly. Then Odd's stomach let out an even louder growl and her glare faded to a small giggle as the group got into the elevator and went back to school.

In the lunchroom, Odd sat with Aelita and Yumi sat with Ulrich, leaving Odd and Elie sandwiched in the middle. The lunch lady had served spaghetti today and once again had the odd orange potatoes. Looking at her own serving, Elie couldn't help but notice no one else had any. Maybe this was even the same batch from yesterday. A careful prod with her fork produced a small growl from the lump.

"I thought you would have learned your lesson yesterday." Jeremie said, trying not to laugh at the group's look of horror.

"You mean you ate them once before and still got them?" Odd asked, sounding mortified at the mere idea.

"They're really not so bad. And it's not like they bite back or anything." She said, taking a large bite of sweet potatoes with a vindictive grin. Odd's wince was some how satisfying, so she saved the rest of the food for later and dug into her spaghetti. She hadn't realized how hungry she'd been. Elie had always been a light eater, but today she was seriously considering going back for seconds.

"Where's your room Aelita?" Yumi asked, eating something lumpy and yellow. Maybe some sort of corn dish?

"I'm in room 35. Why?"

"That's great! You're next to Elie." Odd said. Elie nodded and continued to eat.

"That's wonderful. I was worried I'd be alone here." Aelita smiled brightly at Elie and she gave a small smile in turn.

"What about class schedule?" Odd asked. "Do you have many classes with us?"

Aelita pulled out a pice of paper. "It looks like I've got the same schedule as Jeremie."

"Alright!" Odd grinned. "Perfect. What about you?" He looked at Elie, so she pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to him. "I'm not sure if it matches yours or anything." She explained.

Odd nodded. "You've got math and science with everyone but Yumi. She's a grade ahead of us. You've got English with me, Jeremie and Aelita. History with Ulrich, computer class with the rest of us again, and you're alone for your music class. I didn't know you could sing, Elie." Odd handed her the paper and she blushed.

"Yes you did. I was the girl singing in the first song i played for you guys."

"That was you?" He asked, overdoing the surprise a bit. Elie just nodded.

"Wow. You're really talented!" Yumi said. "I might have to watch out for my position in the band." The group laughed at this and Elie smirked.

"No worries. I don't like being in front of people, so I'd never try to take your spot. I would like to hear you sing sometime."

Yumi nodded. "We're going to have practice tomorrow after school. Since you're part of the band now, I hope you'll show up."

She nodded and stood, deciding that she needed a second plate of food after all. Going to Lyoko must have really taken it out of her.


	7. XANA's Curse Part 7: Before the Storm

(This one's really short. Sorry guys! I'll put up more soon to make up for it.)

On her way back to the table Elie saw Mr. Simmons walking threw the court yard, headed for the cafeteria. "I'll see you guys later." she said, passing by her friend's table. She ate quickly as she walked to the far end of the building, finishing most of the food and pocketing two rolls before putting her tray down.

"Hey." She said when she got closer. "What's up?"

Mr. Simmons smiled at her. "Same as always. I came to see how you're doing. Did you meet up with those boys again?"

Elie nodded, leaning against a near by tree. "Yeah. Them and their friends. There's five of them."

"Oh? That really good news." He smiled warmly at her and put his hand on her shoulder. As always she flinched away from his touch and he pulled back. "I'm glad you're making friends. What are they like?"

"Well, their names are Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi and Aelita." She said, trying to decide how to describe the group. "Yumi's cool. Aelita's nice. Jeremie's the smartest person I've ever met. Ulrich's too serious. Odd's insane." She knew he wanted more, but she wasn't sure what else to say.

Mr. Simmons nodded and smiled at this, laughing a bit. "I see. A rather diverse group, huh?" Elie just nodded. "What about your room? Did you get everything unpacked?" She nodded again. "Nothing got lost in the move?" "Nope." He nodded and stayed silent for a bit longer. "You seem more relaxed than you did yesterday." She had nothing to say to that.

Not that she had to; at that moment, Odd walked out of the cafeteria and waved at her. "Hey Elie!" He called, then ran over. "Who's this?" He asked, looking up at Mr. Simmons.

"Odd, this is my Dad." She said as the rest of the group came closer. "Dad, this is Odd. That's Ulrich, Aelita, Jeremie and Yumi."

"Nice to meet you." Odd said.

"Nice to meet you too. Thanks for making Elie feel so welcome." Mr. Simmons said.

Elie looked away, not sure what to say. Yumi saved her by saying, "Any time. Thanks for bringing her."

Mr. Simmons grinned at this and pushed himself off of the tree. "I need to be getting back. I'll stop by tomorrow to see how your first day of school went. Take care Elie."

"Bye." She waited until Mr. Simmons had left, then looked at the group. For some reason they were grinning at her.

"Your Dad seems really cool." Yumi said with a half smile.

Ulrich nodded. "Way cooler than my dad, that's for sure."

"I guess." She said with a shrug. "What did you guys come over for?"

"We saw you talking to that guy and wondered who he was." Aelita said, then laughed a bit. "Well, I wondered and Odd came over to see."

That made Elie smile just a bit as her eyes flicked over to Odd, then back to Aelita. "Right. So what now?"

"We were going to show Aelita around the school, to make sure she knows where all her classes are and stuff. Are you coming?" Jeremie asked.

"I'll pass. Thanks though." Elie said. "I'm going to go back to my room. I'm thinking it's high time for a nap. I'm still not used to the time lag over here."

"Alright. Suit yourself. We'll catch up with you later." Odd waved and the group headed to the gym. Elie waved back and went for the dorms.

She was almost there when a large man in over worn gym clothes stopped her. "What are you doing back in the dorms already?" He asked.

"Trying to sleep." She said, disliking the way he glared at her as if she was breaking some sort of rule.

"My foot. I saw you talking with Belpois and his group of friends. What are you up to?" The man spread his feet and blocked her path, showing that he wouldn't move until she told him what he wanted to hear.

She rolled her eyes. "Are all the teachers here so paranoid?" She asked, leaning against the wall and starring him down. He locked eyes with her for several moments then looked down. Elie didn't say anything as she pushed off of the wall and walked past the gym teacher, then went into her room and locked the door. She'd have to keep an eye on that guy. The others probably already knew about him, but just to be on the safe side she decided to talk to them about it.

She sighed and sat down on the bed, only to feel a large lump and yip under her butt. Dodging to the left she crouched and examined the lump in her bed. A second later, the ugliest dog she'd ever seen popped it's head out of her blankets and yipped at her softly.

Elie relaxed and held her hand out to the dog who promptly sniffed and licked her hand with a wagging tail. "Good boy." She whispered, petting it. "How did you get in here?" It gave her a pitiful look and she sighed. When she sat on the bed again, she made sure to avoid the dog and once settled motioned for it to sit in her lap.

The small dog had a collar saying's it's name was Kiwi, but it didn't have any return information on the back. "Well, I guess you can stay with me for now." The dog rolled onto his back and Elie obediently scratched it's belly until it fell asleep. Not wanting to disturb the mutt, Elie got her book from the night stand and flipped to chapter 12.

four chapters later, someone knocked on the door. Kiwi jumped to his feet and started to bark, but Elie put her hand on his muzzle to keep him quiet, then threw the blanket on him. The rules clearly said no pets allowed, and she wasn't about to get caught.

Cracking her door open, she saw Odd looking out of breath. Opening the door the rest of the way she asked. "What's wrong?"

"I can't find my dog." Odd said. "Can you help us find him? The others are out looking already."

Elie's eyebrow twitched up. "Kiwi?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

Elie smiled and waved at her bed. "He found his way into my room. Quite a trick since my door was locked." The dog's head poked out of the blankets and he ran to Odd, his wisp of a tail wagging frantically.

"He does that." Odd said, petting the creature and examining her room. "He didn't mess anything up did he? He's got a habit of tarring things up when he's in a new place."

"Not that I could see, but if i find something I'll let you know." Her hand reached out and scratched under Kiwi's chin. "You should keep a better eye on him or someone will find him."

"Thanks Elie. I'll call the others and let them know. Speaking of, what's your number?"

"I don't have a cellphone." She said with a slight shrug.

"Good one Elie."

"Not joking. I don't have a cellphone. I never have."

Odd just shook his head. "Shesh. You should ask your Dad for one; they're really useful you know?"

"Maybe. I don't really see why I need one though."

"Well, for starters when things go wrong on Lyoko, Jeremie calls us to let us know what's going on. And you can call all of your friends back in America, or even the new ones you made here."

"I don't really have many friends back home. Those I still talk to, I e-mail."

"Yeah, but don't yo-"

"No." Elie's voice was far harsher than she'd intended. The hurt she saw cross Odd's face made her feel guilty instantly, though she didn't show it. "I'm glad you found your dog. See you later." She closed and locked her door, listening to his footsteps as he walked away.

She sighed, promising herself that she'd talk to him later and apologies. For now she went to her computer and worked on some new music. School started tomorrow and she knew all the homework, and now her work on Lyoko, would keep her busy. She wanted to get as much music made as she could while she still had time.


	8. XANA's Curse Part 8: Nightmares

The next few days went surprisingly well. She didn't get lost even once and her classes were easy enough, though very dull. The only class she liked was music, even though she didn't have Odd and Ulrich's banter around to help keep things lively, or Jeremie to explain things she didn't know, or Aelita's fascination with everything that seemed to make the dull lessons important and interesting. Music class didn't need any of that. There was a wonderful peace she found in this class that she'd had yet to find anywhere outside of her room.

Mr. Simmons came to check on her every afternoon. He never pressed her, or asked any hard questions, which was more of a blessing than he could have known. The talked about school, her classes, and her friends. Her answers were always short, but he seemed pleased with them none the less.

Gradually, she started to relax. Maybe she could be ok here, across the sea and far far away from her old life.

Then, the Thursday after school started, the nightmares came back. It had been two weeks since she'd had one and Elie had hoped that they'd gone away for good. She had never been that lucky, and as she woke up gasping and panting she cursed herself for being so foolish. Only months of trying kept her from screaming or rolling over and bawling into her pillow. Only months of training kept her rolling stomach from heaving up everything she'd eaten over the last few hours or so.

It didn't stop the shaking, the anger and revulsion. Or the shame and fear. She felt his hands on her, the bitter musky taste in her mouth. The sight of blood that fallowed the roar of gunfire as she pulled the trigger.

Once she had calmed down enough to push the memories far back in her mind, to lock them up in the darkest part of herself, she stood. There would be no more sleeping tonight, and she knew she would need at least one knife before she was ready to even try again. For now she would settle for a long hot shower.

As she got her things ready, even making sure to put in her contacts just to be safe, she heard muffled fearful groans in the room next to hers and knew that Aelita was having unsettling dreams as well. She grabbed the last of her things and slipped out of her room, then checked Aelita's door. It wasn't locked -Elie made a note to talk to her about that- so she slipped in just as Aelita woke up. The pink haired girl was drenched in sweat and shaking, though she seemed to be recovering quickly.

"Hey." Elie said softly, making sure the bit of light coming in from Aelita's window fell on her.

Aelita jerked her head to Elie's voice. "Elie, what are you doing in here?"

"I heard you moaning in your sleep and your door wasn't locked. Come on, I know what will help calm you down. Get your bath things."

Aelita hesitated for only a moment before she got out of bed and got her things. Then the two girls went to the showers. At this hour, 25 minuets past 2 in the morning, they had the whole room to themselves. Elie flipped the lights on and got the water turned on to warm up.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Elie asked.

Aelita shook her head. "No. At least not yet."

Elie nodded and got her things lined up on the shelf.

"Why were you awake this early?"

"I couldn't sleep." Elie definitely didn't want to talk to Aelita about her nightmare, so this was the safest option.

"I would have thought you'd be on your computer."

"Not this time." Elie said, smiling at her friend. "I was reading. I'm almost done with Midnight Ally."

"Maybe I can borrow it when you're done?" Aelita asked, walking into one of the shower stalls and closing the curtain.

Elie got into her own and stripped, letting the hot water fall over her. "Sure, though I'm not sure you'd like it much. It's about vampires, and not friendly ones ether."

Aelita laughed a bit. "Yeah, maybe you're right."

The two girls were quiet for a bit longer as they washed the traces of nightmares from their bodies and minds. Aelita was the first to break the silence. "Thanks Elie. You were right, this really helps."

"Any time."

"How did you know this would work so well?"

"I'm no stranger to nightmares. Showers always help. It doesn't mater if it's a horrid one or one that's not to bad." Elie said, looking up into the spray of water, letting it wash the soap off of her face.

"Do you have nightmares a lot?"

"Not anymore."

"What made them go away?"

For that, Elie had to dig several years when she'd had nightmares the first time. "I came to terms with what was bothering me. Once I accepted what was bothering me and learned to deal with it, the nightmares went away. Do you know what's upsetting you?"

"No." She could hear the hesitation in Aelita's voice.

"Do you want to talk about your nightmare yet?" Elie asked gently. "If you don't want to, or think it's something you can't talk about, then don't. But when you're ready, I'll have an open ear for you, ok?"

Aelita was quiet for a moment, then spoke. "There's an elf running threw the woods, getting chased down by a pack of wolves. The elf hides in a hallow tree, but the wolves find it anyway and..." Aelita trailed off sadly. "Do you know what it could mean?"

"Maybe it means you're running away from something? The wolves are probably what you're running away from. Maybe XANA, or something else, I'm not sure. If we can figure out what the wolves are, I bet you'll stop having nightmares."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Aelita said with a smile. "I'll talk to the others about it too. Maybe they can help too." Elie finished and shut her water off, then dried and got dressed. "Good idea. With you and Jeremie both thinking about it I'm sure you'll have it figured out in no time."

"Thanks, Elie." Aelita said, coming out of her stall dressed and dried.

"Any time. Now try to get some sleep. Tomorrow we're going to the woods to draw flowers, remember?" Elie cleaned the steam off of the mirrors, then left the bathroom. After dropping Aelita off at her room and making sure the girl locked her door, Elie went to her own room and flopped down on the bed to finish her book.

The next morning she got ready for class, getting to skip the shower this morning. Maybe she should do that more often. No other girls trying to rush you, and no fear of cold water. It was much more relaxing.

She met Aelita in the hall and the two sent down to breakfast together. "How did you sleep?" Elie asked.

"Fine. Did you get to sleep at all?"

Elie shook her head. "No, but I did finish my book."

At the cafeteria, Elie wasn't surprised to see Odd was on his second plate of food, and Ulrich was laughing about something Jeremie had just said.

"What was the joke?" Aelita asked, putting her stuff down as Yumi entered the building. Elie went to get her food, so she missed what Jeremie said. When she came back though, she was telling the group about her nightmare.

"It might be nothing." Ulrich said. "Let us know if you have it again, ok?" Aelita nodded and got her food.

After breakfast, the group split up to go to the woods. Jeremie and Aelita were working as a team, as were Ulrich and Odd. Yumi went with a guy named William. Elie, sadly, was stuck with one of Sissie's fools. Nickolas clearly wasn't happy with the match ether. "Why not go fallow her around? I'll do our pictures and say you helped out." This made Nickolas smile and run off. Elie was just happy not to have him around.

She fallowed the rest of the class to the woods, getting to work on drawing and taking pictures of the plants around her. It didn't take long for her to finish, so she wandered around. Surprisingly the first group she found was Odd and Ulrich. Kiwi was the firs to see her and ran over.

She bent to pick the dog up, "Hey guys."

Odd looked up at her from his place on the ground. "Hey Elie. Got much done?"

Elie nodded and leaned against a tree. Ulrich seemed fixated by something on the far side of the bushes. "What's over there?"

"Yumi and William." Odd said. "Ulrich's been watching the the whole time. We haven't even gotten any work done yet."

"You know, you could take some pictures or something." Elie pointed out.

"Ulrich's got the camera."

"You could draw something."

"Nah."

Elie laughed a bit. "You are so lazy." Elie let Kiwi go and went to see what Ulrich was looking at. Yumi was sitting against a tree. On the other side of that tree was a fairy cute guy who was trying for the 'rebel punk' look and failing. He had the clothes right for the look, but his attitude was wrong, and from what she could hear from this far away, he wouldn't shut up about himself and how he wasn't really a rebel, just a little rebellious. She already didn't like him. Moving away from the bush she waved. "Try to get some work done?" She suggested. "And get Ulrich away from that bush before he grows roots."

This comment earned her a glare before Ulrich turned back to his camera. She just smirked and went off to find Jeremie and Aelita.

What she found surprised her; Aelita was alone on the red path and seemed to be really freaked out about something. "Aelita, are you ok?" she asked.

Aelita turned and ran screaming. "Wait!" Elie called, running after her friend. Eventually, Elie fallowed Aelita to an old house with a sign outside that said 'Hermitage'. The place gave Elie the creeps and something told her she needed to get Aelita out of there quickly. Inside, she found Aelita in what looked like a living room, and strange smokey slime was drifting out from a broken light bulb.

"Aelita, look out!" Elie called, running to protect the girl. Elie was to late, the slime knocked Aelita out cold, then turned on Elie. There wasn't much she could do short of run, but she couldn't leave Aelita with this stuff. She dodged and tried to grab her friend's arm, but the slime attacked and Elie felt herself slip into oblivion. As the dark surrounded her, a single image flooded her mind: An old man with glasses standing next to a lanky younger man with brown hair. Then there was only black.


	9. XANA's Curse Part 9: First Mission

Elie's eyes slowly opened. Her head was killing her and the image of the two strange men kept flashing in her eyes to add to her torment. The room came into focus slowly. There were metal tables all around her and thin metal tubes along the walls and ceiling. Lower to the floor she saw metal boxes that looked vaguely like ovens.

Aelita was next to her and she remembered the black slime that had attacked them. "Aelita, are you alright?" She asked, rolling and checking on the girl. She didn't look hurt but she was out cold. From down the hall she heard foot steps and soon after Odd Yumi and Ulrich ran into the room.

"Get Aelita out." Elie ordered, struggling to her feet. She ached less now and thing were getting a bit clearer. Next to her, Ulrich and Yumi helped Aelita to her feet as she woke up.

"Ulrich...?" Aelita asked as if in a daze. She cleared up far faster than Elie had. "It's a trap! XANA's going to-"

The oven door suddenly jerked, but Odd wedged himself between the door and wall before it could shut. "Get Aelita out!"

Elie grabbed hold of the door and tried to help Odd keep it open as Aelita crawled threw.

"Elie, you next." Yumi said. Elie nodded and fallowed. Yumi was just starting to move when the door shoved it's self closed, pushing Odd out of the opening. Elie caught him before he could fall, but nearly fell herself in the process.

Once Odd was stable again, Elie grabbed the door and tried to pull it open. Soon Odd and Aelita joined her, and Yumi and Ulrich pushed from the other side. "You'll be cooked alive if we don't get you out of there!" Odd said, pulling even harder. Already Elie could see the thermometer for the room rise.

"Get to the factory. Deactivate the tower, it's our only hope!" Ulrich said, trying not to sound scared. Elie nodded and locked eyes with Odd; they'd have to hurry if they were going to help their friends.

"Let's go." Odd grabbed Aelita's hand and the three ran for the exit. Naturally the door was locked and Elie didn't have any picks. "We'll have to go up." She said, turning. Just then a book shelf hurled it's self at them. Grabbing Aelita, Elie moved to the right and Odd jumped over it. Apparently his acrobatics on Lyoko weren't just for show.

"What the hell?" Elie asked.

"XANA. He's trying to stop us by throwing anything he can at us. Literally. But this time it ended up helping." The door had been smashed to pieces and Odd's dog sat outside as if he knew they'd be there.

Something drew her attention to a near by building. It didn't look like much, just a simple brick shed, but something about it made her know it was important. Apparently Aelita had a similar feeling. "Odd, there's a passage over there. I think it leads to the sewers." She said quickly.

"This is no time for jokes Aelita."

"I'm not joking Odd. I'm sure."

Elie nodded. "Good enough for me. Let's go." Elie opened the door and saw stairs leading down underground. "She's right." Elie confirmed as she ran down the stairway. Odd and Aelita were a few steps behind her.

"This is incredible. How did you know about this?" Odd asked.

Aelita shook her head. "I'm not sure. I just knew."

Elie bit her lip as she ran. She had no idea how Aelita knew about this place. Maybe it was in her programing somewhere. What was really bothering her though was that she had known Aelita was right about the tunnel. Elie had never even been to France before, let alone the Hermitage... So why had she known about this place as well?

The factory was surprisingly close to the old house, and the three went down to be materialized quickly, stopping only to let Jeremy know they were there and they needed to hurry before Yumi and Ulrich got cooked.

When they materialized, they were somewhere cold. It was one of the other secrets that Jeremie and the others talked about, but it was her first time being here. The chill in the air felt good, but she knew it would get to cold quickly if she stayed still. Jeremie programmed in Odd's board and Yumi's over-wing. Odd got on his board and she and Aelita got on the over-wing, then rushed off to find the tower.

"How do we deactivate them?" Elie asked. It was her first time on an official mission, so she didn't know how this worked.

"We find the activated tower- it'll be glowing red by the way- and Aelita goes inside to put in a code. Our job is to make sure she gets there without getting hurt."

Elie nodded as the tower came into view and Jeremie announced that there were two Tarantulas guarding it.

"I'll never be able to get past two of those on my own..." He complained.

"Maybe I can lure one off for you?" Aelita asked.

"To risky. We're not supposed to let you get hurt." Elie said, shaking her head. "I know I'm new at this, but it's ok if I get hit, right? Let me take care of one."

"But you'll get hurt." Odd protested.

"Doesn't matter. What will you do if both go after Aelita?"

Aelita put fist in her hand. "I've got an plan. Listen..."

A few moments later, Aelita flew out on the Over wing, waving at the tarantulas as she passed by them. As Aelita planned, one fallowed her away from the tower. Things went wrong quickly from there. One of the tarantula's lasers hit the Over wing, making it vanish. The second tarantula saw this and rushed over to help get the kill.

Elie charged from her hiding spot behind a block of ice, drawing the tarantula's attention to her, rather than Aelita. As Elie kept this one distracted, Aelita ran to the edge of the island where Odd rose up on his board and shot the tarantula.

To bad he ran out of ammo. Elie was alone in this fight, but it would give Aelita enough time to get to the tower. Elie ducked and sliced with her knives, doing on a few points of damage. If she wanted to kill this thing, she had to hit the mark on it's head. It shot four more lasers at her and she rolled to avoid them, landing against an ice rock.

Smirking, she pushed up and off, launching herself at the monster. As she pulled her knife across the mark, she saw Aelita run into the tower. "What happens now, Odd?" she asked, relaxing now that the monsters were dead.

"Aelita deactivates the tower, and Jeremie launches the Return to the Past program." Odd said. "It's a bit disorienting at first, but I'm sure you'll get used to it soon."

Elie nodded, watching as the red faded from the tower. A bright light fallowed soon after and when Elie opened her eyes, she was back in her room. Odd was right, and disorienting was the biggest understatement of his life. The clock next to her said it was fifteen past six in the afternoon. A quick check in her back pack made her groan inside; all of her homework had to be redone. Oh well... Nothing was perfect.

Even knowing they'd gone back in time, Elie still wanted to find everyone and make sure they were ok. As she'd guessed, they were in the cafeteria. Elie smirked a bit and got some food before sitting down. Just like last time she'd been on Lyoko, she was starved.

"Elie did great. She took out one of those tarantulas all by herself!" Odd said as she sat down. He even gave her a pat on t he back which made her look down.

"It was nothing." She said softly, then dug into her food.

"Not nothing." Aelita said. "You did really well for your first time."

Elie made a noise of thanks and continued eating. After her first plate was done, she asked. "Is it always like this? You just go back and everything's fine? No one remembers anything?"

Odd nodded, but it was Jeremie who spoke up. "That's right. It's saved a lot of lives."

"Like your lives." Elie pointed out, nodding at Yumi and Ulrich. The two seemed much more relaxed around each other today. Maybe something happened when they were trapped in the oven?

Elie nodded and went for a second plate, noting that Odd was on his second already as well. How far back could that machine take them? If it could go back years... The temptation gripped her heart, but she shook her head and pushed it back. Even if she could go back in time and erase everything she'd done, she didn't have the courage to. It would be like killing herself in the hope that a new version of her wouldn't make the same mistakes. She just couldn't do it... and yet, the temptation gnawed at her even as she returned to the table and ate.

"I went back to the Hermitage today. It's gone back to being a normal house again. Abandoned, but normal." Jeremie said, spinning his fork around in his potatoes.

"It's so weird... All those visions I had there." Aelita said softly. Elie's ears perked up at that. Apparently she'd missed that part of the conversation. She'd have to ask Aelita bout that later.

"Not to mention that tunnel that you knew about." Odd added.

"It's as if I'd already seen that house. In a dream." Aelita put her head on her hand, looking thoughtful.

"Sounds like a new mystery to solve." Yumi said, laughing slightly.

"By the way," Jeremie said, pulling a pink wrapped package from his bag. "Aelita, this is for you."

Odd grinned and pulled out a black wrapped package from his bag as well. "And this one's for you, Elie."

She and Aelita looked at each other for a moment and opened the boxes to find cellphones inside. Hers was black and Aelita's was pink. "It's to keep us one steep ahead of XANA. This way we can all stay in touch." He blushed very slightly and smiled at Aelita. "I thought pink would suit you."

Odd grinned at Elie. "I know you said you didn't want one, but we thought maybe you wouldn't mind to much if it's just for emergencies."

Elie blushed bright red and looked down. Even after she'd snapped at him, Odd had gotten her a phone. She could tell he'd picked it out; it was the same model as his. She could also tell Jeremie picked out Aelita's phone, and not just because of his pink comment.

"Thanks." She forced her face to lighten up a bit and gave the group her first full smile. "Thank you." she repeated, loud enough for them all to hear her.

"There you go. Now you both look like regular school kids." Odd teased. This earned him a chuckle from the group and Elie looked down at her phone. It was held tightly in her hands. It was special, and she knew she'd keep it forever, even after she couldn't use it anymore.


	10. XANA's Curse Part 10: Carthage

The next morning, Elie leaned against the wall outside of the bathroom. There was a long line this morning and she was next in line. If only whoever was in front of her would get out... It wasn't like Elie was going to take long; she had taken a shower in the middle of night again. She just wanted to work on her make up. The small mirror in her pocket was well enough for fixing her contacts, but it didn't cut it for larger jobs.

Aelita walked out of her room, looking tired and vaguely upset. Elie was about to abandon her place in line to go talk with the girl, but the bathroom door opened and Sissi walked out. The girls behind her grumbled and Elie just glared silently. Of course she'd been the one in there for the last hour... Not wanting to delay the line any longer, she slipped inside and put on her make up quickly and made sure her contacts were in place. It took less than five minuets and when she came back out Aelita was gone. Maybe she'd decided it wasn't worth the wait?

Shrugging Elie got her school bag and went to find the others. Jeremie and Yumi were already at breakfast so she joined them. They didn't talk much, but it was an easy silence. Later Odd, Ulrich and Aelita joined them. Aelita still looked upset by something, but Elie didn't want to bring it up in front of everyone. Breakfast past quickly and the group left. There was still a bit of time before school so they decided to relax around the vending machine.

"Last night I did a search on that house we found. Apparently it's owned by a guy named Franz Hopper." Jeremie said. "And it turns out that a man named Franz Hopper was a science teacher here at school."

Yumi tilted her head. "You think the owner of the Hermitage and the science teacher are the same person?"

"Well, finding two guys named Franz Hopper in less than half a mile of each other would sure be a real coincidence." Ulrich said.

"There's only one way to be sure." Jeremie said, sounding rather eager. "After History, we have a study period in the library. What do you say we do a little research in the academy archives?"

Odd gave an approving grin. "Good idea."

"I'll go with you." Aelita added.

"That's not a good idea." Jeremie said, shaking his head. "You already got in trouble in the showers this morning. If Jim catches you snooping in the archives you'll be suspended for sure. We'll meet later in the cafeteria."

The boys walked off and Yumi put her hand on Aelita's shoulder. "Are you alright?" She asked. Apparently Elie hadn't been the only one to notice that their friend was upset about something.

"I just can't get used to living here." Aelita admitted, then looked at Elie. "I had another nightmare last night. The same one."

Yumi just smiled kindly. "You haven't even been here a week yet. You'll see, you'll feel better in no time."

Aelita smiled at this and Yumi left to go to class.

"Did you tell anyone else about your nightmares?" Elie asked. Aelita shook her head. "Well, I'm glad you've told us at least. I'm new here too you know, so if you're upset about something, come find me, ok?"

Aelita nodded again. "I will. Thanks Elie. We should get going to class." Elie nodded and fallowed her friend to math.

"What happened this morning? Jeremie said you got in trouble at the bathroom?"

Aelita looked down. "Oh, that. Sissi told me that since there was such a long line for the bathroom I should go upstairs. I didn't know that was where the boy's bathroom is and Jim found me there."

"She's such a brat... Didn't Jim let you explain?" Elie asked. When Aelita shook her head, she sighed. "Someone's got to do something about her..."

That afternoon, Elie was running late for lunch. She had wanted to talk to Aelita a bit more about her nightmares and maybe get help on their math work. What she saw when she arrived pissed her off. Sissi was picking on Aelita. Again.

"So Aelita, going back to the great white north?" Sissi asked in her annoyingly prim voice.

Aelita clenched her teeth and fists. "Why not? At least i feel at home there!" She ran towards the woods and Elie ran up to Sissi. She knew where Aelita was going and would catch up in a moment. "What's your problem?" Elie demanded, glaring at the girl. "Why won't you just leave her alone?"

"Oh honestly! Why is everyone so protective of her? She's just going to have to adapt." Sissi flipped a bit of hair over her shoulder.

Elie's glare darkened. "Back the fuck off. Pick on me if you've got the guts but leave her alone, got it?" Sissi took a steep back and Elie took off.

Aelita would go to the factory, she was sure of that. Ducking into the sewer, she ran as fast as she could. She got turned around once, but she could still hear Aelita's foot steps ahead of her. By the time she got to the factory, Aelita was vanishing in the elevator. Cursing her bad luck for getting her turned around, she waited for the elevator to stop, then called it up again. When she got to the scanner room it was to late; Aelita was on Lyoko and Elie had no idea how to work the computer or the scanners.

She frantically tried to figure out what to do. She didn't dare work the computer herself, so what should she do? Sliding her hands into her pocket she felt the new cellphone in her pocket and dialed Jeremie's phone.

"Elie? Where are you? You and Aelita were late for class and Sissi said-" he started.

"I know. We're at the factory. Aelita went to Lyoko. I don't know how to work the scanners to go after her. She's really upset, get here fast."

"Right." Jeremie hung up and Elie took the elevator up to wait for the rest of the group to arrive.

Everyone but Yumi arrived quickly, though not quickly enough for Elie's taste. "Where were you?" She asked, trying not to sound angry.

"We went back to her Hermitage." Odd said. "Jeremie found a book."

"We can talk about it later. Get to the scanner room." Jeremie got off at the computer room and Elie, Odd, and Ulrich went to the scanners. Yumi joined them a moment later and soon all four were on Lyoko.

"Where is she?" Elie asked, looking around. Jeremie told them to go due north and to hurry. Aelita had fallen into a trap.

"Ulrich, go ahead. With your speed you'll get there first." Odd said. Ulrich nodded but it was to late. Two large red monsters surrounded them. Elie had not seen the Krabs yet but it didn't take long to see their weakness. Cut the long legs and they would fall.

The rest of the group already knew this; Yumi and Ulrich took on one krab while Odd climbed up one of the trees, drawing the second one's attention. Ulrich cut their Krab's legs and Yumi threw her fan to kill it. Odd reigned arrows down on his to clear the path.

Jeremie seemed to remember the vehicles then and summoned them. Elie rode with Odd on his board. When they arrived where Aelita should have been, though, they found nothing. Aelita was nowhere to be found.

"She's gone already?" Odd asked, clearly teasing. "She must really be mad at us."

"This is no time to joke Odd, I've lost Aelita from my screens!" The panic in Jeremie's voice was clear.

"You mean... she's..." Yumi didn't finish, the thought was to horrible.

"No, I doubt it. I think she's just disappeared from the screens as if... Wait... what's going on?" He paused for a moment, then triumphantly declared "I got it! Wait, that's strange. Aelita's not on this sector anymore. She's not on any of the sectors!"

"Can you explain that any better?" Ulrich asked.

"No... Not really. Let's just say she's in a sector that doesn't exist." Another short pause and Jeremie said, "A fifth sector."

"Carthage..." Elie didn't know where the word came from, but she was sure that's where Aelita was. No one seemed to have heard her.

"Have you gone bananas Einstein?" Odd asked.

"No. Maybe if i could just fix this thing..." Jeremie sounded desperate, then confused. "Welcome to Carthage?

"Do you think you could hurry it along?" Odd asked.

Just then, three hornets buzzed in. Elie stayed on the ground while the other three took to the air in their vehicles. The fight didn't take long and Elie didn't even have to lift a finger this time.

"Jeremie what are we doing?" Ulrich asked.

"Wait, I've got a little problem. I need a password. Something to do with Carthage."

"This is no time for a history lesson!" Ulrich exclaimed.

"History...? That's exactly what I need!" Jeremie went silent for a bit longer.

More Hornets arrived and this time Elie got to join the fight. Only a few flew her way, but she took them down with ease. Her only complaint was that she didn't have a vehicle yet; she planed to fix that as soon as they went back to the real world. The others were not having such an easy time. They had to fight at least twice as many hornets as she had and they were in trouble. "Jeremie hurry up!" She ran forward and killed a hornet that was about to shoot Odd. More showed up and Elie knew they couldn't keep up this pace.

"I'm going to get it I'm sure of it." Jeremie told them.

The swarm grew as more hornets flew in from seemingly nowhere. There had to be forty of them at least. Everyone moved to stand back to back. Jeremie rambled off name after name with no result. "Scipio." Elie said. "Try Scipio. He defeated the Carthaginians."

A moment passed and Jeremie's voice returned. "I can't believe it! It worked. Nice one Elie." She grinned as the hornets flew away.

It was still to early to relax though; a strange white ball flew up over the side of the land, as if rising from the digital sea and circled around them. Nausea bubbled in her stomach. She felt the ball moving, flying at impossible speed and it took all of her will not to throw up. Then they stopped and the group found themselves in a strange round chamber. Under them was the Eye of XANA icon, and the roof over them wad domed and spinning wildly.

Odd seemed to have been similarly effected by the trip and she gave him a small smirk and put her hand on his shoulder. "That sucked." She groaned. He gave her a small smile of his own.

"Welcome to Sector 5 everyone." Jeremie said proudly.

"What's it look like?" Yumi asked.

"A sphere." Jeremie said. "Oh.. That's probably bad news. A timer just popped up." His voice turned urgent suddenly. "I think Aelita's being attacked! Hurry. Take the foot bridge behind you."

Elie nodded and turned, running with the rest of the group over a think blue bridge. In front of them was a wall in a darker shade of blue that opened up for them to revile more walls that opened. The end result was a slightly twisted hallway.

At the end they found a strange room made of blue blocks and jellyfish-like monster that had Aelita in it's tentacles. "Uh, Jeremie, there's this... thing here." Ulrich said.

"Destroy it quickly! That thing is taking Aelita's memories!"

Elie nodded and did as Jeremie said. Yumi threw her fan, cutting the creature's tentacles and freeing Aelita. There were three other new monsters in the room though, and Ulrich killed one of them, then caught Aelita as she fell. Odd's arrows took out the second one and Elie's knives claimed the third.

Without warning, the room started to change. The blocks lifted and lowered randomly and it seemed that the room was closing in on it's self. "Get out of there!" Jeremie told them. Ulrich, Aelita and Yumi did, running for the exit. Elie started to fallow, but Odd had yet to move.

"Come on!" She urged, turning and pulling him along with her. "The room's closing." The block under his feet started to lift and he nearly fell. She managed to keep him on his feet but it was close. Then the hallway of walls began to close as they ran threw it. They barely made it out, with less than an inch to spare between her foot and the final slamming wall. She panted, grinning at Odd. He smiled back and pat her on the back.

"Thanks Elie. You really saved my tail." He said. She just smiled, to out of breath to reply. A moment later the white ball came back and returned them to the forest sector, then Jeremie brought them back to earth.

That night, just before lights out, everyone gathered in Jeremie's room to tell him about sector five. "You should have seen it Jeremie. There were all these creepy things, and in the middle a giant jellyfish thing holding Aelita." Odd said. From his lap, Kiwi growled. Elie scratched behind his ears and he calmed down.

"Can you believe that thing was stealing my memory?" Aelita asked, having trouble with the idea herself.

"Yeah. One thing's for sure, XANA wants to get something out of you. But what?" Jeremie asked. "We've got to find out.

Ulrich nodded. "I can't wait to go back to the fifth sector. There's so much to explore there."

"I'll go with you." Yumi said.

"Wait a minuet." Jeremie said, waving his hand to stop any more comments. "It's still uncharted territory, which means whatever's there could be really dangerous.

The group nodded, then Aelita sighed. "You guys aren't mad at me for going back to Lyoko are you? I don't know what happened, I just..."

"You don't have to explain Aelita. We already know what happened, and we're not angry at all." Jeremie moved to sit next to Aelita. "I promise I'll spend more time with you."

"And I'll teach you plenty of ways to tell Sissi to go to-"

"Odd!" Sissi interrupted, moving to block the doorway. "Do you have any idea what your filthy mutt did in the shower?" She paused for a moment, then smiled condescendingly. "What a pretty picture! So you finally found Mrs. Einstein."

"Yeah, while you were taking your third shower of the day." Ulrich glared and pointed his finger accusingly at her.

"What can I say Ulrich dear? A beautiful flower like me needs to be watered often." She flipped her hair back and made a sound of contempt as she looked at the group again.

"Yes." Aelita said smiling brightly. "You never know; you might just sprout a brain!"

That earned a laugh from everyone in the group, and Elie gave Aelita a pat on the back. "Nice."

Sissi stormed off with a huff and Elie stood up. "I should get going. Lights out is in a few minuets. See you later guys." She waved and walked out. A few steps later Odd walked out of the room and caught up with her.

"Thanks again for saving me." Odd said, falling into step beside Elie.

"Any time." She said, still smiling a bit.

"You know, you should smile more." He said as they walked onto the stair way. "It's cute."

Elie blushed and looked away, feeling something strange in her chest. Rather than address it, she just smirked and teased. "But if I smile a lot, it won't be such a treat."

Odd's smile widened a bit. "But I like treats. You know me, I'd eat four or five deserts if i could. I guess I'll just have to make you smile more often."

Elie laughed lightly. They'd gotten to her door and she unlocked it. "I'll see you in the morning Odd. Good luck."

"Thanks Elie. See you in the morning." He smiled and waved as she locked the door. Turning she leaned against the solid wood, glad for it's support. Had Odd been flirting with her...? She as almost certain of it and the knowledge made that place in her chest squeeze again. Frustrated, she pushed off of the wall. No, he'd probably just been teasing her, like he always did. She had to be reading to much into this. Elie shoved the thoughts to the back of her mind, doing everything she could to forget the conversation and what it was doing to her.

This couldn't happen. Not to her. Especially not in her situation.


	11. XANA's Curse Part 11: Exploring Carthage

Three days later, after a late-night XANA attack, Elie woke up and glared at her alarm clock. This was one morning when she wasn't happy to hear 'This is Halloween'. She glared at the clock and seriously reconsidered her decision to wake up extra early so she could get a shower before Sissi took over. Thinking of the line and the threat of a cold shower stirred her to motion.

Things between her and Odd had mostly returned to normal. He hadn't tried to flirt with her again, though every so often he'd glance at her after a joke to see if she smiled or not. The seventh time she'd seen this she gave him a knowing look and he had stopped, though his efforts to make her laugh had not.

When she got out of the bathroom, pleased to see that she'd made Sissi wait, she went back to her room and killed a bit of time on her computer. The best thing about waking up this early was that she got a bit of time for her music before classes or Lyoko swallowed her day. At fifteen till seven, Elie left her room and went to the cafeteria.

Out side the Cafeteria, the rest of her friends were talking in a group, clearly worried about something.

"But what about exploring sector five? That was for tonight, wasn't it?" Yumi asked.

"It's ok. Jeremie will give you a play by play update on our progress." Ulrich said

Jeremie nodded. "I promise. You need to focus on getting your parent's trust back."

The bell rang as Elie arrived, so she couldn't ask Yumi about what happened. While Yumi went to her class, Elie and the rest went to science.

"Did you study for the biology test Odd?" Jeremie asked

"Yeah. Listen to this. Fish are remarkably well adapted to water. What's more they can swim." He laughed a bit and Elie had to resist a smile of her own.

"So, what's going on with Yumi?" She asked.

"Since we've been having so many late night XANA attacks, Yumi's been getting home late a lot. Her parents noticed and now, since she can't tell them where she'd been, they're really cracking down on her. They even walked to her school this morning. We think she should stay off of Lyoko for now." Odd said. They arrived at class and she sat at the table behind Odd and Ulrich like always.

"That sucks. I guess it'll just be us today." Elie said, getting her homework and such ready for class.

That night, Aelita, Ulrich, Elie and Odd waited for the hallway to open in sector five. Elie's stomach had rebelled again, though less so than last time. Odd groaned that he shouldn't have eaten that fifth desert and she smirked at him, the closest she'd let him see to a smile since he flirted with her. "Get ready. It's about to open." She said, helping him to his feet.

He nodded and waited. Two seconds later, the door opened and they rushed forward. Today's hallway was straight, but had steps leading down. "I think this place changes every time we come here." Elie said.

"Probably. There must be a way to stop it. That's got to be what we use to explore farther." Jeremie said. "Look for a switch or some kind of button."

"Right." Odd said.

"Be careful. You've got two creepers on your tail, and there's three minuets left on the count down." Jeremie added.

Odd turned and shot his arrows at one, killing it before he turned and started running again. After two wrong turns, one of which got Aelita shot by a creeper, Elie got an idea. "We're just going in circles guys. This place is like a giant maze. We need to mark the turns we take."

Ulrich nodded. "Right. I'll cut the wall. Let's get going."

"Aelita, stay between me and Odd." Elie said.

She nodded and the group took off again and Jeremie told them they only had two minuets left to find a way to stop the countdown.

A minuet later, the group found a bright light on the far side of the room they were in. "We found it!" Odd said, grinning. Running to the light, they found a small platform that feel away to empty air.

"Einstein, any bright ideas?" Odd asked.

"Go back to the room you were just in. I think i found a mechanism on the wall." Jeremie said.

Walking back into the room they looked for something out of place in the blocky blue room. Aelita was the one who found the button high on the wall. It was, naturally, shaped like the Eye of XANA.

"Odd, can you get it?" Ulrich asked.

"No problem. Leave it to me." He said, using his cat like agility to climb up the wall with ease. No one saw the creepers until it was to late. One shot Odd and devirtualized him.

Glaring at the monster, Elie charged after it, only to hear a second creeper attack Ulrich behind her. She turned and he devirtualized. Then the room started to shift. The creepers left, but Elie was separated from Aelita in the process.

Cursing, Elie dodged blocks as they moved, trying to crush her until she was left in a small room with only one opening.

"Don't worry girls, I'll rematerialize Odd and Ulrich and get you guys out of there. Elie, find your way back to Aelita if you can. You were close so with some luck it won't take long." Elie nodded and ran threw the small door, only to find herself in a hallway that turned away from where Aelita was. when she got the chance she turned back in the direction she thought Aelita was in.

It was probably more luck than anything that led Elie to the small room with Aelita four turns later.

"Miss me?" Elie asked, walking up to her friend. Aelita nodded, but then Jeremie's panic filled voice interrupted them. "Aelita, Odd and Ulrich didn't rematerialized. They're not here."

"What? But that's impossible!" Aelita shared a look with Elie that said she was about to panic as well.

Elie's stomach dropped. How was that possible? "Are you sure?" she asked, her voice trembling a small fraction. Odd and Ulrich had to be there. Maybe the program was just delayed

"I'm sure..." He said.

"Are they lost?" Aelita asked softly.

"For the moment they are." Elie's stomach fell even farther at Jeremie's words.

"So there's no materialization from Sector Five?" Elie asked, her voice soft.

"Sure there is. Once we find the right program." Jeremie sounded like he was forcing the bit of optimism.

"Do you think you can find it?"

"Honestly? It's probably about as easy as finding your anti-virus Aelita. But don't worry I'm going to do the impossible. I'm calling Yumi in. Elie, Aelita, whatever you do don't get hit."

Elie nodded. "Come on, we should go. I don't want to get trapped in here." She and Aelita headed to the hall Elie had come threw, but the door slammed shut before they could get out. Turning, a second door opened. On the other side of it however, was the jelly fish-like Scyphozoa.

"Get behind me!" Elie said, pulling out her knives to face the creature.

"Don't worry girls, Yumi is on her way!"

"Tell her to hurry Jeremie." Elie ran forward, slashing at the monster, but it flipped it's tentacles at her and she had to back away. She didn't now if this monster was just after Aelita's memories or if it could do serious damage to the rest of the group. Odd and Ulrich were already lost; she refused to become a third casualty.

The tentacles reached out for Aelita and Elie leaped back, pushing Aelita out of the way. The monster lifted her up and strange images flooded into her mind. It was Lyoko, though some parts were places she'd never seen before. There were Asian looking mountains, a hot desert, the forest, the cold glacial region. Sector five flashed in front of her in all of it's shifting glory. Above all, the Eye of XANA flashed threw her. Her mind felt bombarded, assaulted, as if the monster was dragging things out of the deepest part of her mind. But it wasn't the things she hid away; it showed her things she had never even known she knew. Lyoko's inner workings, the super computer, Franz Hopper and the lank man that worked with him. All of this knowledge was buried deep inside of her mind; she had only to reach back and dig it up as this monster was. If she stayed like this, she knew she would come across a great secret.

Near by, she could feel Aelita was in the monster's clutches, though it was doing something very different to her. Rather than pull knowledge to the girl's attention, it was taking it away entirely. Elie knew she had to stop it from hurting Aelita, but she was powerless to move.

Suddenly the connection faded and Elie fell back to the ground. The knowledge and memories faded back into her mind where she couldn't retrieve them again. She felt their loss bitterly, but a few things had stayed. She knew how to operate Sector five now, and she knew there was a data terminal past the hall that led to empty air. There was an elevator that would take them to it.

"Aelita, are you alright?" She asked, crawling over to her friend. The room had changed and where the Scyphozoa had been there was now a very solid looking wall.

"Yeah.. I'm alright. Are you?" Aelita asked.

"I'm fine. We'll talk about that later, though. We need to get out of here." Elie and Aelita stood and at Jeremie's urging they took path that opened up behind them. Not far away, Elie saw the light that marked the Elevator's path. "In there." She said, guiding Aelita to it. Just as she thought, there was an elevator coming, and Yumi was on it. "Jump." She said, leaping with Aelita onto the speeding platform.

"Glad you could make it." Elie said, grinning at her friend. Yumi smiled back in reply.

"Where's this thing taking us?" Aelita asked.

"I have no idea." Yumi said.

"I know." Elie admitted as the platform slowed and a door opened on the far wall. "Threw there." She pointed and after a second Yumi and Aelita did as instructed. Elie fallowed behind a few steps.

There was in fact a data terminal waiting on the edge of this platform. Elie looked around; this was way to easy.

"There's an interface." Yumi said, sounding surprised.

Aelita touched the terminal and it responded. "I can get in." She searched threw the data. "It's incredible! This terminal gives access to XANA's data. Sector five is where XANA lives!"

Elie nodded. That seemed to fit with the small bits of information the Scyphozoa left at her disposal.

Jeremie said, "Look for the devirtalization code for sector five. If you can find that, we can save Ulrich and Odd."

"Better hurry. There's some weird stuff hanging around here." Yumi said, pointing up at the wall of data.

Elie looked up and saw three creatures that looked vaguely like stingrays emerging from the wall. "Jeremie, get our rides ready. Is there a way out of here?"

"Bad news. When Aelita's working on that interface, I can't do anything on my end."

"I found it Jeremie. I'm transmitting it to you right now. " Aelita stepped away from the panel and the overwing and overboard appeared. Aelita rode on board and Yumi and Elie got on the over wing. Just seeing his board made Elie's chest tighten with memories of Odd trying to make her smile, or just being silly for the sake of it. 'Please be ok...' she thought.

"Ok girls. I've opened up a tunnel for you. But hurry, it'll only be open for a few seconds."

They did as instructed, but Yumi got shot on the way out and devirtualized. Soon Elie and Aelita found themselves in the mountain region. Just like Elie'd seen, it looked very Asian and she took an instant liking to the place.

"We came out threw a way tower." Aelita said. Jeremie said that was good and that they needed to get to a neutral tower to be devirtualized.

Once back on earth, Elie and Aelita waited outside of the scanners while Jeremie tried out the new code he found. If this didn't work... Elie didn't want to think about it. Maybe they could to back in time? Would that fix this? Or maybe they could go to sector five again and find the code?

It didn't matter. No mater what happened, Elie wouldn't let her friends stay 'lost'. Just thinking of a world without her friends made her want to curl up into a ball and cry. So much had changed since she'd come to Kadic, she had changed so much, and it was all because of them. And Odd... She knew he was some how special, even among her friends. Without him around to make jokes and try to make her smile, her world seemed darker. He had to be ok.

The scanner doors shut and the machines kicked to life, and Jeremie came down stairs. "Now all we can do is hope." He said.

Elie didn't turn to look at him. Her eyes were fixed on the scanners. This had to work, it just had to. 'Please.' she thought, not sure who she was asking. 'Please, just let this work.' She knew her face was in a blank mask, hiding her swirling emotions from her friends. Next to her, Aelita and Jeremie held hands, desperate for each other's support.

The scanner doors slowly opened, reviling her formerly lost friends. Odd fell forward and Elie rushed to catch him before he could fall all the way. He looked up at her, grinning weakly at her.

"How do you feel?" She asked softly. Jeremie appeared next to her and helped get Odd back on his feet. "Say something."

"Something..." Came the soft reply. Elie smiled and closed her eyes as relief flooded over her, making her legs weak. She locked them in place, determined not to let Odd fall over. Her heart was leaping with joy, but she didn't let it show as Odd finally found his feet and stood on his own.

"Thanks." He said, grinning at her. "You're smiling."

"Am not." She said, not even trying to hide the stupid smile.

This got a laugh from Odd and the rest of the group. Ulrich and Yumi were fine as well. "We did it." Aelita said.

The group walked up to the elevator, though Elie didn't leave Odd's side. He was walking, but he still looked like he'd fall over if someone touched him. It looked like everyone needed some hard earned rest.

That rest was not to come, at least not yet at least. When the elevator reached the top, Kiwi was waiting. The small dog jumped at Odd, but Elie caught him instead. The Principal, Jim, and Yumi's parents were waiting just outside of the door.

"Yumi? What are you doing here?" Her father asked.

"I believe you all have some explaining to do." The principal said, glaring down at the group.

Ulrich and Jeremie shared a look, then gave the rest of the group the look. She knew what it meant and rushed forward out of the elevator. Odd was still to tired to run, but Ulrich and Yumi tried. They failed, naturally, but Elie and Aelita managed to draw most of the adult's attention as Jeremie pressed the button and lowered the Elevator. Jim, sadly, got past the group and into the elevator as it closed.

Elie glared at the metal box but it was to late to help him. Jeremie would have to get past Jim on his own. The Principal reached for her but she dodged to the left, still holding Kiwi.

"Ms. Simmons, stay still. You have a lot to explain young lady. You and all of your friends."

Elie grinned in an entirely unfriendly way. "Oh please. You wouldn't believe us even if we told you." She dodged a new attempt to grab her.

"If you guys are in some sort of trouble, tell us. We can help you." He said, backing off for a moment.

Elie's eyes grew dark. "Yeah right. Adults never help, not when a kid's really in trouble." She stood still for a moment, unaware that Odd and the others had heard what she'd said. A second later a bright white lite flooded the room. When Elie opened her eyes again, she was back in her room. Her eyes were still dark as she looked at her nightmare before Christmas clock. It was early in the morning. School would start in two hours.

Unlike before, Elie was in a fowl mood now. She just wanted to stay in her room and not do anything, especially if she had to deal with the principal.


	12. XANA's Curse Part 12: Sick Day

An hour later, Elie knew there was no way she'd be able to go to school. Her mood hadn't improved any and she just wanted to be left alone. When someone knocked on her door, Elie put on her best 'I'm sick' face and opened the door to find Aelita.

"Hey Elie... Oh, you don't look so good. Are you alright?" The pink haired girl asked.

Elie shook her head. "No... I'm not really. I think I'm going to take a sick day. Go down without me?"

Aelita nodded. "You don't think it could be a side effect of the Scyphozoa attack, do you?"

Elie shook her head again. "I doubt that. It just feels like a cold. Get my homework for me?" She asked.

Aelita nodded. "Alright. Go rest. I'll come check on you at lunch."

Closing her door and locking it, Elie relaxed. The school nurse and Jim would come to check on her soon, but she could fool them. She even knew how to fake a fever. Then she could just stay alone in her room.

Elie wasn't sure why the principal's words had upset her this much. She knew he'd say something stupid like that, and yet it had pissed her off so much she was avoiding everyone. As she thought about it, she realized it hadn't just been the principal's words, but also what happened on Lyoko. The Scyphozoa attack and the things she'd seen had shocked her into lowering her mental walls.

And knowing that her friends would want to talk about it just made her want to curl up and shut out the world.

A knock at the door made her sigh and she opened it to find Jim and the Nurse.

"Your friend said you were sick. What's wrong?" The nurse asked.

"I think I've got a fever. I feel hot, then cold. My head's killing me and I'm feeling kinda weak." Elie said, sitting on her bed.

"I see. Open your mouth." The nurse said. Elie obeyed and the nurse put a thermometer in her mouth. Elie closed her mouth and wiggled her tongue around to trick the device. A moment later the teacher took it out. "You're right. You're running at 101.2. Stay in bed and take it easy. I'll come by later with water for you, and some lunch later on."

Elie nodded, laying down on her side and covering up in her blankets. "Thanks."

The nurse nodded and pat Elie's shoulder, then left. True to her word, the nurse came back later with three bottles of water, reminding Elie that she needed to stay hydrated. With her new free time, Elie read and did her best to forget about last night. She knew her friends would probably come see her at lunch and she wanted to be in a slightly better mood.

At lunch, the nurse stopped by again, bringing Elie tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. She ate slowly, then stopped about half way threw the soup. She'd only eaten a few bites of the grilled cheese. The nurse knit her brows in worry. "You know you should try to eat more."

Elie nodded. "I will, but maybe later?" She motioned to the door where her friends waited. The nurse nodded and left, telling Aelita to make sure Elie ate more.

"Hey guys." Elie said, waving. "Make yourselves comfortable. Aelita sat on the end of Elie's bed and Jeremie took her computer chair. Yumi closed the door and leaned on it while Ulrich leaned against her closet. Odd sat on the floor near him.

"Feeling any better?" Aelita asked. "The nurse said you should eat some more."

"A bit. I'm just not hungry still."

"That's strange. Going to Lyoko always makes you hungry." Odd said, pulling out a few snack cakes he'd gotten from who knows where. "I brought you these, in case you were feeling better." He offered them to her and Elie accepted with a small smile.

"You don't think it could be the Scyphozoa attack that made you sick, do you?" Jeremie asked.

Elie shook her head. "No, it's just a fever. I'll be better tomorrow I'm sure." She grinned at her friends, hoping they'd let it go soon.

"I got your homework. Here." Aelita searched threw her bag for a moment, then gave Elie several sheets of paper. "Your homework's at the back. I took an extra set of notes for you today."

"Thanks Aelita." Elie looked at the stack and skimmed over the first page. Aelita was really through.

"We were planning on going back to sector five tonight, but if you're sick-"

"Don't be silly, Jeremie. Go without me." she waved her had dismissively at him. "Besides, you guys could find some useful information there, right? Maybe even Aelita's Anti-virus. You should go."

"Are you sure?" Odd asked. "One of us could stay and take care of you."

"I'm sure. You guys need to protect Aelita, remember?" She yawned, pretending to get tired again. "I'm going to go back to sleep. Thanks for the notes."

"Ok..." Odd said, standing up. "But try to eat more before you do. Get better soon, ok?" Elie nodded, making a slight show of dipping her sandwich in her soup and eating a few bites.

Once they were gone, Elie relaxed again. She had been worried they'd ask more questions, but maybe they had taken pity on her because she was 'sick'. Elie still didn't have much appetite, so she put the food to the side and started working on the new homework.

Once that was done, she finished the soup and sandwich, then went to bed.

That evening, when t he nurse returned, Elie said she was feeling much better. It wasn't even a lie. With the whole day to relax, Elie had calmed down and got her walls and mask firmly back in place. When someone knocked on her door, she invited them in. For once, her door hadn't been locked. It was, unsurprisingly, Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita.

"Hey Elie. We heard you were feeling better." Odd said, sitting on the end of the bed. She nodded.

"Good. We wanted to talk to you about last night." Jeremie said, sitting once again on her computer chair. "Do you know why the Scyphozoa attacked you?"

"No." Elie said, shaking her head. So far she hadn't had to lie, that was good.

"It wasn't taking your memory like with Aelita. It almost looked like it was sifting threw your data. Did anything happen?"

"Yeah. I can't really explain it. Maybe it was putting data into me, but I started to understand things. Like i knew about the Elevator and the terminal." That was only part lie.

"It didn't look like the monster transfered anything to you, but maybe..." Jeremie trailed off, thinking. "Elie, can you come with us tonight? I want to scan you."

"No. I'm still tired." She said softly.

"Are you sure? It could be important." Jeremie pushed.

"I'm sure. Next time we'll do it."

Jeremie nodded. "If you're sure." He stood and left, Aelita fallowing just behind. Odd stayed, saying he'd catch up in a minuet.

Once Odd was sure they were alone he leaned toward her. "Ok, Elie. What was with that comment last night?" His eyes looked directly into hers and she had to resist the urge to check her contacts.

"What comment?" she asked.

"About adults not helping kids out. And you had this really sad look. Did something happen?"

Elie laughed softly. "No. I just don't like adults." Mentally she kicked herself. How could she have been so stupid? Had she really said that...? Yes, she had. She just thought no one had heard her.

"Then what was with that look?" He asked, uncharacteristically serious. "You don't get looks like that unless something happened. I want to know what."

"Nothing happened." She said, waving him aside and yawning. "I just don't like adults, i told you."

Odd trained that serious look on her for several long seconds. "Fine. If you don't want to talk about it now, I'll leave it alone, but don't think for a moment this is done."

"Good night Odd." She said, rolling her eyes at him. When he left, she locked the door behind him. Great, now she had to make two cover stories. She realized with a jolt that she didn't like lying to Odd. But that was impossible; she'd lied all her life and never thought twice about it. There was no way this should bother her.


	13. XANA's Curse Part 13: Jumps

The next morning, Elie yawned and glared at her clock. It almost felt like a ritual at this point. Wake up, glare at the clock, enjoy the music anyway, go shower. She was feeling much better now, but she wanted to avoid Odd today. He suspected to much. Maybe Jeremie too. For now it was best if she just lay low. Another sick day wouldn't hurt anyone.

They day went by much as the last had, but she pretended to be sleeping whenever her friends came by. The only time she actually talked with anyone was when Aelita gently shook her and gave her more notes.

What the hell was wrong with her? Why was she avoiding her friends like this? She'd sorted out her issues already, so why? Elie knew the answer, she just didn't want to admit it. She didn't like lying to her friends and everything about her was a lie. Until she could work that out again, it was best to lay low. That afternoon, Elie saw the white light that meant they were going back in time again.

Standing in her room once again, Elie glared at her clock and unplugged it. This had to stop or she was going to go nuts! Not only did she not want to stay in her room all day again, she knew she couldn't avoid her friends like she had been much longer. Elie's phone rang and after a second, when she saw it was Jeremie, she answered.

"Elie? I know you're sick, but we need to go to the factory. Aelita's still on Lyoko." He said.

"What are you talking about? And why have you been doing so many return trips?"

"It's a long story Elie, but It hasn't been me doing the return trips. XANA's gotten control of the program using the data we found on the last trip to sector five. And he's activated a tower. We were trying to deactivate it last night and he returned us before we could. Now Aelita's on Lyoko without any protection!"

"Shit.." She sighed, already getting her shoes on. She had missed a lot during her 'sick days' apparently.

"It gets worse. Sissi's got a recording of me and Aelita talking about how she's not who she says she is."

It took everything she had not to yell at him for being so foolish. Who in their right mind would talk about that sort of thing in the open, even if people were supposedly asleep. "Right. I'll see you at the factory." Elie hung up and ran out the door only to find Sissi in the hallway. Something was very very wrong about her though. Her eyes kept shifting and after a second Elie realized that her pupils kept shifting between normal black and the Eye of XANA.

Sissi shoved Elie back into her room, then closed the door. When Elie tried to open it, the door wouldn't budge. She growled and tried again with the same result. Turning, Elie saw her window. That would do.

Climbing onto her computer table, Elie opened the window and searched for a way down. Her best bet was the water drain, and she wasn't very sure about using it. Steeling herself, Elie reached out to it, grabbing hold and sliding her way down slowly. It seemed to take forever, but the pipe held strong and soon she was on the ground. That pipe was useful, maybe she could use it again some time.

Running to the front of the building, Elie saw Sissi and her two cronies carrying Jeremie to the boiler room. She fallowed, being careful not to be seen. There was no point going to the factory without Jeremie after all. She had to rescue him.

When Sissi walked into the room Elie fallowed and ducked behind some boxes. There were a lot of ways she could attack, but with Sissi's crazy strength she didn't like the idea of a fight. What she really needed was a distraction.

That distraction burst threw the door on the far side of the room in the form of Odd and Ulrich. For a moment, her two friends stared at Sissi, clearly not expecting her two friends.

"Guys, look out. Sissi is possessed by XANA!" Jeremie said, surprising Elie; she'd thought he'd been knocked out. Sissi glared, growling in a very inhuman way, and pulled a pipe off of the wall. Being possessed explained a lot, but it didn't make any sense it's self. How could XANA posses people?

The room started to fill with a fowl smelling smoke and Sissi's cronies fled. Now Jeremie was free and he slid past Sissi and joined the others. In frustration, Sissi slammed her pipe into the wall, knocking several others free.

Ulrich grabbed one of them and got into a fighting position. "Get out of here Jeremie. I'll handle her."

"Are you sure?" Jeremie asked.

"Just get going will ya?" Ulrich snapped.

"Good luck." Jeremie and Odd ran back down the steps they'd come from. Elie jumped from her hiding place, rushing forward and knocking Sissi's legs from under her. As the girl went down Elie grabbed the walkman on her hip. Inside was a disk she was sure had the conversation between Aelita and Jeremie. She snapped the disk in two and dodged as Sissi swung her pole at Elie's legs from the ground, then stood.

"You sure you don't need help?" Elie asked, pocketing the bits of the disk. Ulrich didn't reply and it occurred to her that he probably thought she was still sick. "I'm fine. Do you need help or should I go to Lyoko with the others?" She snapped.

Ulrich shook his head. "I'm fine. Go. They'll need you."

"Right." Elie said, running for the stairs. "Don't get hurt."

On her way to the factory she broke the disk into eight more pieces and tossed them into the water. That was one problem taken care of at least. Soon she caught up to Odd and Jeremie.

"How did XANA learn to possess people?" Odd asked, unaware of Elie still.

"It seems he found a way to increase his powers."

"Brilliant Einstein, but how?"

"With the Jumps back in time!" Jeremie said, skidding to a halt. "The super computer is a quantum computer that uses the properties of qubits. Every time you add a qubit it's power theoretically doubles. I think that means-"

"That's nice and all." Elie said, stopping a step behind Jeremie and Odd. "But do you think you could explain it so the rest of us can understand?"

The two turned, jumping slightly at her voice. "Elie? But how?" Odd asked.

"Long story short, Jeremie called to ask for help. I chased you from the boiler room. Ulrich's still fighting Sissi, now let's go." She motioned to the latter and started to climb up.

"But you're sick?" Jeremie fallowed her, with Odd bringing up the rear.

"Not exactly. We'll talk about that later. So, the super computer gets stronger when you go back in time, right?"

"Yes." Jeremie said the three ran into the factory and slid down the ropes.

"Where's Yumi?"

"She's already inside." Odd said. "We got here a while ago, but when Jeremie didn't show up or answer his phone me and Ulrich went to find him."

She nodded, finally stopping to catch her breath as the elevator went down. They traded Jeremie for Yumi, then went to the scanners.

What waited on Lyoko was a swarm of Hornets and the Scyphozoa . Already the monster had Aelita in it's grasp. Yumi's fans killed two of the hornets, and Odd's arrows found three more. Elie's knives flashed threw the tentacles to free Aelita.

"XANA's started another jump back in time. We'll have to start over again."

"I'd rather not, Jeremie." Odd said, watching the Scyphozoa flee.

"We just have to make it to that damned tower." Yumi said, turning, only to have two tarantulas block her way. A third waited farther back.

"Jeremie, see if you can stop the program." Elie said, getting her knives ready. "We can't afford another jump. What if XANA manages to possess even more people next time?"

She ran forward, twisting to dodge a laser, then plunged her blade into the Eye of XANA mark on the tarantula's face. The second monster reacted faster than the first and shot her dead in the chest. Elie flew back, landing with a gasp as fire filled her. She'd almost forgotten how much it hurt to get hit. As she struggled to get up again, Yumi and Odd took on the second monster. Aelita ran to her side and helped her sit up. "Are you alright?"

Elie nodded. She had pushed the pain back much more quickly this time. "Yeah. Thanks." She stood, grinning at Aelita and looking for the monster. It died as she got to her feet. "We need to hurry." There was a round hole between her and the monster. She and Odd went left, Aelita and Yumi went right.

"I did it!" Jeremie said. "I stopped the jump back in time."

Elie drew the monster's fire as Yumi jumped behind it and threw her fans, cutting it's front legs off. Odd fallowed a second later. As he leaped over the monster's head he shot three arrows into it, killing it.

"Good work Jeremie." Elie said, watching Aelita run to the tower. As it turned from red to blue, Elie closed her eyes. She could feel herself devirtualizing and when she opened her eyes again she was back in the real world. Yumi and Odd were already waiting, and a second later Aelita joined them. As the three celebrated, Elie stood on the side lines, leaning against a scanner and grinning at them.

She knew it couldn't last; she'd been avoiding her friends far to long. Their anger was expected. Not surprisingly it was Odd who brought it up first.

"Elie, what's been up with you the past few days?" He asked, walking over to her. She ducked her head and didn't look at him. "You said you weren't even really sick."

"It's complicated." She said, sighing. "I don't really want to talk about it."

"Did we do something wrong?" Aelita asked. She and Yumi walked over, staying just out of arm's reach.

"No."

"Then what's wrong?" Yumi tried to get Elie to look up, but she couldn't bear the sight of her friend's worried faces.

"I told you; it's complicated. You guys didn't do anything wrong. I was just dealing with personal stuff." She felt the weight of their gazes on her and had to fight not to run.

"Are you angry at us?" Odd asked.

Elie's head jerked up. "No! Not at all." Her friends had the strangest expressions now. Surprise mixed with confusion. The worry she'd heard in their voices had been replaced, or at least taken a back seat for now.

"Elie... your eyes?" Odd tilted his head at her to get a better look. "They're gold. Just like on Lyoko."

Elie froze, body screaming for her to run. In the chaos of the morning, Elie hadn't put on her contacts.

"Is that what was wrong? Your eyes changing color?" Aelita asked.

Elie shook her head slowly as she tried to calm her frantic heart. "You can't tell anyone. Promise me you won't tell a soul about my eyes!" Her voice came out louder and more panicked than she'd intended. Her friends flinched at the sound of it, or maybe at her intensity, she wasn't sure. "Please."

"Elie, what's going on?" Odd asked, taking a step forward. "This isn't like you, we're worried."

"Don't." She said, trying to move away form him. The scanner at her pack prevented her from moving away and her body tensed for a fight. "Please..."

Something in her voice must have worried them enough to do as she asked. What could she do now? There was only one thing. Her voice shook slightly on the words. "I haven't been honest with you guys."

"About what?" Odd asked.

"Anything."


	14. XANA's Curse Part 14: The Past (Part1)

Elie looked at the floor, unwilling to meet her friend's confused gazes. This might be the last time they'd talk to her. She'd been lying to them for so long...

"Elie, what are you talking about?" Odd asked.

"Everything you know about me is a lie." She thought about that for a moment. "Well, not everything. Most of it though." Elie sighed. "It's complicated."

"How?" Jeremie asked. Elie hadn't even heard him come down.

"Well, for starters... No." She shook her head. "I don't want to repeat myself. Let's go to the school and get Ulrich, then we'll talk. Besides, I want to make sure Sissi didn't hurt him."

"No, we need to know now, Elie." Jeremie said. She didn't have to look up to know that Yumi and Odd had huddled closer to Jeremie. The group was on guard.

"You can relax. I'm not a threat. It won't compromise Lyoko or any of you. I won't run away ether. Isn't making sure Ulrich is safe worth waiting a few extra minuets?"

There was a long pause before Jeremie said "She's right." His voice got a bit harder when he turned. "Elie, you're our friend. We wouldn't have thought you'd run or that you were a threat. But after saying something like that I hope you can understand our concern."

"I can." She said softly. Hearing Odd and Yumi move, she did as well and joined the group in the elevator. The trip back to school was tense and quiet.

Ulrich was fine, and better yet Sissi had gained control of herself and had no memory of what happened. On the down side, each person in the group had four hours of detention for skipping class.

Once back in her room, Elie took her spot at the head of the bed. Aelita sat at the foot, Jeremie sat in the computer chair, and Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich stood or sat against the wall.

"I think it's about time you tell us the truth." Jeremie said. On the walk up, the group had filled Ulrich in about the Lyoko trip, how Elie had freaked out about her eyes, and what she'd said about lying.

"Right." She said, taking a deep breath. "I'm not really sure where to start..."

"The beginning." Ulrich said firmly.

"I can't tell you that." She said, holding her hand up to hold off the protests that were already being voiced. "I have my reasons. You'll understand soon, but should tell you why I'm here first. I guess that would be as good a place to start as any. There are some things I can't tell you guys. But it's not by choice. Not entirely anyway." She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "You see, I'm in Witness Protection."

"Witness protection?" Ulrich scoffed. "Yeah right. "

"I'm not lying." She said, looking him dead in the eyes. He was the first to look away. "I helped take down some very dangerous criminals. I can't tell you how or why, but I had information on them which I traded the authorities. I gave them the information, they helped me to disappear. That's how I got here, not because I transferred. I'm not even from Pittsburgh. I'm from Atlanta."

"You realize that sounds crazy, don't you?" Ulrich asked. Elie just nodded.

"I don't get it. What kind of criminals could you have taken down? You're just a kid." Jeremie's eyes were fixed on her but she wouldn't look back at him.

"You guys are kids too, and yet you go into a virtual world and save the world on a weekly basis." She replied.

"Well, we've got to give you that point." Odd said, shrugging. "But still. The whole thing sounds like something out of a bad soap opera."

"I know." She said, looking at her knees.

"But what about your Dad?" Yumi asked. "He said he came here so you could stay at Kadic."

"He wasn't lying, mostly. He's not my father, he's the agent assigned to monitor the area and make sure I'm not discoverer. If he knew I was telling you this, he'd relocate me, and I doubt I'd end up anywhere as nice as this."

"But what about your eyes?" Odd asked. "Why did you freak out so badly when we saw them?"

"My eyes are unique. Very very few people have any yellow in their eyes, let alone fully golden eyes like mine. I think there's one other person from the US with eyes even close to mine. And his eyes are more brown than yellow. That's why I ware brown contacts to cover them. They are to obvious, and if someone who knew me saw them it would be a dead give away. Or if word got out that there was a girl with gold eyes at this school it might lead people to me."

"Elie, why did you have that information?" Jeremie asked.

"I already said I can't tell you."

"Can't, or won't?" Ulrich asked.

"Both." Elie replied. "I want to be honest with you, but this is something I don't want to tell anyone. If things were different, maybe I could, but-"

"That's Bullshit!" Ulrich snapped. "You won't tell us because you're afraid, right?"

"Obviously." She said, not flinching away from his harsh words or tone. "But keep your voice down."

Ulrich glared, making a frustrated angry sound. "You know our secret, about Lyoko and XANA. Why won't you tell us yours?"

"Lyoko is my secret now too, remember?"

"Yeah. And how do we know you won't go running off to the cops with this huh? Maybe you've just been waiting until you had more information to trade off."

"Because she doesn't trust adults. Right Elie?" Odd asked. Elie nodded. "Then why would you go to the police in the first place?"

"I was desperate. I was... I still am, in trouble. Hence why I'm in WP."

"We still need to know what connection you have with the people you turned in." Yumi said. "Maybe we can help you."

"There's nothing you could do." Elie said with a shrug. "So leave it at that please."

"Elie, please. Let us help. We can keep an eye out for you." Odd said.

"No." Her voice was quiet but firm. "The rest is ether classified or to hard for me to talk about."

"Elie, we need more than that. Why did you have that information to start with? How did you get involved with criminals?" Jeremie's quiet voice was insistent.

Elie was quiet for a long time. "You aren't going to let it go... are you?" She asked.

Everyone nodded, even Aelita. "It's important. We need to know." Aelita put her hand gently on Elie's knee but Elie pulled away.

"Because..." She shrank in on herself, bracing for their anger. "I worked for them." As she'd expected the anger and shock was almost a physical thing, even though no one said a word. "I ran messages for them, mostly. A few other things like stealing and such. I won't go into that anymore, so don't bother asking. It's a part of my life I want to forget."

The room was quiet for several more minuets before Elie sighed. "If you want me out of the group, just say the word. I won't mention anything about Lyoko to anyone."

"We'll have to think about it." Jeremie said. "Are you sure there's nothing else you want to tell us about this?"

"Of course i want to tell you more. If i could, I think I'd tell you guys everything, even the worst parts, but I can't. I've already risked a lot with my slip up. I wish you guys hadn't found out. It would have been easier that way."

"We'll talk about it and talk to you later." Jeremie said.

Elie nodded. "Ok." Her voice was small and shook; for once Elie didn't try to hide it. "I won't talk to you guys unless you talk to me first."

"That's probably a good idea." Ulrich said, glaring at her.

"Good night then." Her voice wasn't a whisper, though it was hard to find any other word to describe it. She waited until the door closed, then gave in to the dread and sorrow and bitter regret that threatened to overwhelm her.

She didn't cry. Elie hadn't cried since she was six, but she wanted to. She wanted to run, scream, fight, anything to relive the boiling pressure of emotions she didn't dare show. Sher shook with the force of them and her hands tightened as she fought back emotion. Dimly she was aware that her nails were biting into the skin of her arms, but she didn't care anymore.

Then, of all things, she felt a hand on hers, prying her nails out of her arms. Startled, she looked up into Odd's worried face. He held both of her hands in his.

"Elie..." He said softly, lowering himself to meet her eyes. "Relax your hands."

Elie tried, but only managed to relax her fingers enough for him to slide his palms against hers. He didn't let her go, but he didn't try to move any closer. "I have one more question for you. You don't have to talk, just nod or shake your head." Elie nodded very slightly. "Do you regret lying to us?" This time her nod was more forceful. She was glad he didn't ask her to talk; she didn't trust her voice anymore.

"Then that's good enough for me. I do want to know more. I think you gave us more questions than answers, but... We'll manage. It might take the others a bit to calm down. Ulrich especially. I'll see you in the morning." He let her hands go and Elie felt their loss bitterly. As if she'd been looking up at the moon on a clear night and storm cloud had suddenly moved in to block it.

"Don't go." Her whisper was more of a plea than a request.

Odd gave her his classic grin. "I can't. Jim will skin us both if he find me up here. It's almost time for lights out."

"oh.." Elie looked down again. "I see. Then I'll see you in the morning?"

"Yeah." He grinned and waved, then closed her door. Elie locked it behind him, glad that, for the moment at least, she had at least kept one friend.


	15. XANA's Curse Part 15: Movie Night

((Sorry this took so long to come out! I'll have the next two or so up much faster! ^^; Btw, yay for hitting 1000 views! Thank you everyone!))

The next week passed in silence. Odd came to see her every day, but he was the only one. At first, Elie was upset but in time she came to accept her friend's silence. She still hoped that one day, some how, the group would come to trust her once again. The worst part of it was that Aelita was having nightmares again and true to her word, Elie didn't go to help her. She wished she could, but...

One week after Elie's secret came out, Odd stopped by. "Hey Elie. We don't have much homework, so I was thinking we could watch a movie." He gave her his classic wide grin and held up a copy of Piranhaconda. She grinned back at him; they'd been looking forward to this movie since it came out. It looked like the funniest, cheesiest horror movie of all time.

"I'm in." Elie replied, snatching the DVD from him and putting it in her computer. She tilted the monitor to point at her bed as Odd got into her computer chair.

"Got snacks?" Odd asked. Elie just lifted an eyebrow at him and pulled two bags of chips from a drawer under her bed. She had it filled with all sorts of 'contraband' items like chips and candy. Maybe popcorn would have been better, but she didn't have a microwave.

Two hours later, Elie and Odd couldn't stop laughing. The movie, just as Elie had hoped, was a horrible mess. Just when she thought she'd gotten herself under control, Odd burst out "Part snake, Part fish, ALL KILLER!" and she fell into hysterics again.

Once both's laughter had died down, Elie got the DVD out of her computer and put it back in the case. "Thanks Odd." She smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Any time. It's nice having someone to watch these with. It's not really Jeremie or Aelita's thing, and Ulrich thinks their stupid."

"But they are stupid." Elie pointed out.

"Yeah, but in a funny way. Ulrich just thinks their lame." Odd shrugged and accepted the DVD.

"What about Yumi?"

"No way. She'd take all the fun out of it. Don't get me wrong, Yumi's cool, but this is not her kind of thing."

Elie shrugged. "So, I guess you're headed off?"

"Yeah. It'll be lights out soon. What should we get next time?" Odd stood and stretched, then put his half eaten bag of chips back in the drawer.

"I heard Sharktopus will be out soon." She grinned at him with a wicked gleam in her eye.

"Sounds perfect." He gave her a thumbs up and walked out the door. Elie closed it behind him, then locked it. This was the fourth movie night she'd had with Odd. Despite the rough patch she'd been going threw, Odd had gotten her to smile and even laugh at each. Thinking back on it made her smile.

That night, Elie stood on an outcropping of stone. Above her the sky was dark and stormy. Below her... She didn't want to see what was below her. She knew she was dreaming, and she also knew she wouldn't be able to wake up until she moved from the stone.

Turning she saw a brilliant blue sky behind her. It was cloudy under that sky as well, but the cloud were white and puffy, blocking just enough of the sun so it wouldn't hurt her eyes. The ground wasn't barren stone, like what she stood on, but lush green grass.

She turned again, looking at the black dead ground at her feet and the swirling black clouds above. Farther down, in the pit, true horrors awaited her.

"What are you doing over there?" a voice asked from the light side of her dream. Turning, Elie found Odd standing at the edge of the grass. His hands were in his pockets and he was smiling at her in the way that made her relax.

"I'm watching." She replied. The wind picked up, but only on her side of the dream. The simple faded white dress she'd worn a thousand times as a child flapped in the sudden gust.

"Watching what?" Odd asked.

"What I am. And what I could be."

"Which side are you standing on?"

"What I am." Elie raised her hands up to the boiling storm clouds, watching lightning flash in their depths.

"Come to this side then." Odd said. "Be what you could be."

"But if I do, you'll see everything I want to hide." Elie lowered her arms and glanced at the pit. Horrors, everything she was.

"So?" He asked. His hand left his pocket and reached for her. It stopped less than an inch away from the border between sides.

"I don't want you to see it." She said, taking half a step back. She was at the edge of the outcropping now. If Elie moved, she would fall.

"Don't step back." Odd said. His voice was soft and gentile, but she could hear the plea in it. "Come on, don't be scared."

Elie shook her head, then eyed Odd's hand. It would be easy to take it. She just had to step forward and grab hold of him. "I can't. Your hand... If i take it now, it'll expose everything I've kept hidden."

"Then I'll come to you." Odd stepped forward.

"No." She gave him a sad smile. "My shadows will taint you." Elie saw the confusion in his eyes, then watched them grow wide as he understood what she intended to to. He was to late though.

Elie stepped back off of the outcropping of stone, and fell into the broiling shadows below her. She could hear Odd screaming her name as the shadows pulled her down. Then there was only silence. The kind of Silence no one can experience in life. There was no muffled sound of a heart beat, or the faint roar of blood in her ears. There wasn't even a faint vibration to say there was any sound at all.

It was better this way. If she had taken Odd's hand, he would have been able to see everything about her, everything she'd done, every shame she had, every atrocity she'd committed. His hand would have exposed everything she'd kept hidden for so long, and that was something she simply couldn't allow.

"I don't want you to see it." She said to the darkness.

Then the memories came, filling the darkness with a pain so profound she couldn't breath, a fear so sharp that she couldn't move, and a sorrow so overwhelming that the simple act of living seemed to hard to bother with. She didn't know how long she stayed there, clutched in the merciless grasp of the past, but when she woke up the shock was almost as bad as the nightmare. She shivered and clutched herself, trying to calm down enough to go shower. That's when Elie heard a scream from next door. Aelita was having her nightmares again.

A door on the other side of the hall opened and Elie stood, still trembling to see what was going on. By the time she'd gotten her contacts on, Sissi had thrown open Aelita's door, demanding to know what Aelita thought she was doing. And did she have any idea what time it was? Sissi, the stupid princess, needed her beauty sleep after all.

When Sissi slammed Aelita's door shut, Elie was waiting for her. "Leave her alone, Sissi." Elie said in a quiet, dark voice. She was in no mood to deal with this girl, but she wouldn't let her talk to Aelita like that, even if Aelita wasn't talking to her at the moment.

"Or you'll what?" Sissi challenged.

Elie smirked. "I'm not so stupid as to warn you about my plans, Sissi. I guess you'll just have to wait and find out, won't you? Tell you what, I'll forgo my little fun at your expense if you'll come yell at me instead of her. If you've got the guts to mess with someone who won't take your shit, that is." Elie waited, keeping her eyes on Sissi. Once almost a minuet had passed, Elie's smirk grew just a bit. "What, you won't take the deal? You're pathetic."

"You're the one who's pathetic!" Sissi yelled. "I bet you wouldn't say these things if my father were around!"

"Always running off to Daddy." Elie scoffed. "But yes, I would. In fact, maybe we should go talk to him about you yelling in the middle of the hallway at three in the morning? I know I'm not the only one you're keeping up. Just do yourself a favor: Shut up and go to your room." Elie took a step forward, causing Sissi to jump back and flee into her bedroom. Elie glared at the door as she passed, then she looked back at Aelita's room. Her expression softened with worry, but she couldn't invite her down to the showers anymore. She'd promised not to talk to anyone from the group unless they talked to her first.

Sighing, she went to the showers and let the hot water wash away her dream. No mater what she did, though, she couldn't erase one part of the dream. She stood on the outcropping, Odd's hand extended to her, offering her wonderful things she hadn't dared to dream about. And then she stepped off the edge and fell into shadow.

The next day, Aelita and the rest of the group sat around the table in front of her, looking at a strange doll. She heard Aelita say it was called Mr. Puck and that she'd found it in the Hermitage. Apparently the group had gone there that morning to try and help Aelita with her visions and found the doll in a hole in the wall. A hole that had been hidden behind a drawing, much like Aelita had seen in her visions.

Then, naturally, Sissi came in and snatched the doll away. "Wow Aelita, you still play with dolls?" Sissi taunted.

"Give that back, it's very important." Aelita said, standing and trying to get the doll back. Sissi tossed it to her minion Nickolas. Ulrich confronted Nickolas, demanding he give the doll back, but Nickolas had already given the doll to Herve. Odd went after Herve, but he threw the doll back to Sissi. She and Aelita grappled over the doll for a moment before something small and shiny fell out of it. Sissi pulled the doll from Aelita's hands and reached for the fallen object. Before she could, Elie leaped out of her chair and put her foot over it. Despite Sissi's prying, she couldn't move Elie's foot.

Sissi glared at her and Elie glared back until the teacher walked in. "What on earth is going on?" She demanded.

"Nothing." Sissi said, backing away and shoving Mr. Puck at Elie. Elie nodded, then got the object from under her foot. It looked like a locker key, only smaller. Almost like one from a train station or a P.O. Box. As she passed Aelita and Jeremie's table, she put both doll and key in front of them, then returned to her seat without a word.

She could feel the group's eyes on her, but she ignored them as the math teacher started her lesson.


	16. XANA's Curse Part 16: Posessed

The next day at Gym class, Jim was giving one of his famous speeches. "Some of you may associate running with cowards, but i assure you nothing could be farther from the truth. You see, He who runs well, goes far!" He grinned, clearly proud of his statement, though Elie and half of the class rolled their eyes. Others just exchanged 'here we go again' looks. "Alright Jeremie, let's see how strong your stride is."

Jeremie went up to the line and got started. Five steps in though he stumbled and claimed he twisted his ankle.

"Of course you twisted your ankle! You don't get strong muscles sitting in front of a computer all day. Herb, take him to the Infirmary." Jim said.

"Actually, would you mind if Aelita could come with me instead?"

"Fine. Whatever. Just hurry." Jim said, then called the next person in line.

As the other kids took turns running, Elie thought about Jeremie. Something seemed off about him, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. It wasn't like Jeremie to punk out like that. If he wasn't going to run he'd have been upfront about it, not fake an injury and ask Aelita to take him away. And his computer was still closed in his bag. That was what bothered her the most. He never left his computer anywhere in case XANA attacked.

Ulrich was up next and as he stood he pocketed his phone. She knew the look on his and Odd's face; XANA was up to something and Elie was willing to bet Jeremie was involved.

"Ulrich, I'm counting on you to bring these times up." Jim motioned for Ulrich to get on the track.

"Sure thing, Jim, but can I go to the bathroom first?"

"Fine, just hurry up."

"I have to go too." Odd said, standing up quickly.

Jim glared but waved that they could go. "Right then. Simmons, hop to it." Elie nodded, watching the two run to the school. She had to fallow them, but... it would have to wait. If she left now it would be to suspicious. She took her place on the line and ran as fast as she could. Normally she held back in gym, something Mr. Simmons had told her to do. The last thing she wanted was an invite to the track team. Today she gave it her all and set a new school record. She was breathing a bit heavily when she stopped, but it had only been a sprint after all.

"Very good Ms. Simmons. In fact, why don't you go hit the showers early?" Jim gave Elie a thumbs up and she nodded, running to the school. Rather than go shower, she went to the woods and fan for the factory.

When Elie arrived, she saw Yumi hit Jeremie over the head with a wrench and took a step back so the shadows hid her. Yumi, Aelita, and Ulrich went down the elevator. Odd chose to stay, saying that he'd fight Jeremie while they went to Lyoko.

She'd been right to think something was wrong with him; Jeremie was possessed by XANA. Like when XANA had taken over Sissi, Jeremie gained incredible strength. Unlike last time, Jeremie how had purple lighting coming out of his hands.

For now, Odd was handling the attack well. Any time Jeremie punched, Odd managed to dodge, even making Jeremie punch into an iron beam. "Ouch! Sure glad that beam was there and not my face!" Odd taunted as Jeremie pulled his hand out of the now dented metal. As much as Elie wanted to rush in and help him, she knew she had to wait. Going in now wouldn't help Odd at all. She grabbed the rope, waiting, eyes locked on the fight below her. After a few minuets she got her chance. Odd's footwork was wrong; he wouldn't be able to dodge in time.

She rushed forward, swinging down on the rope to land between Jeremie and Odd just as Jeremie was going in for the kill. She shoved odd back and knocked the arm out of the way. Jeremie recovered far faster than she'd thought and tossed her aside. Her little move had done it's job though. Odd was safe. Better yet, Odd had a chain in his had which he used to trip Jeremie, then put some distance between them.

"What are you doing here?" Odd asked, keeping his eyes on Jeremie.

"Saving you." Elie said casually, drawing Jeremie in her direction. "You guys weren't exactly subtle when you left. You've got to work on that or someone else will catch on." Jeremie punched at her and she dodged, then kicked him in the chest. It was like hitting a wall of stone! He didn't so much as flinch. Then he grabbed her leg and used his lightning. She was still fizzing a moment later when he tossed her into a pile of junk.

She stood, her body still twitching randomly, and advanced. The taste of something burnt lingered in her mouth and Elie was sure she'd never get it out again.

Odd circled Jeremie, swinging the length of chain he'd tripped Jeremie with moments before. He attacked, wrapping the chain around Jeremie's arm in the process. "Odd, Let go!" Elie's warning came to late as the purple lighting traveled across the metal to shock Odd.

Elie rushed in with a series of kicks, making Jeremie back away from Odd while he recovered. He blocked every attack, as she knew he would. This time he didn't shock her though which made her grin. Behind her, Odd called out. "What's wrong Sparky? Afraid of heights?"

Jeremie flew into the air, landing near Odd on a metal beam far up in the air. She added 'flying' to the ever growing list of things XANA-controled people could to to kill you as she ran to catch up. Hadn't Odd learned his lesson with the chain? She had to get them off of the beam and quick! That or the others had to deactivate the tower before Odd got fried to a crisp.

She was to late; Jeremie bent down and lighting arced across the metal, making Odd fall ten feet to the second floor platform. "Odd!" Elie cried, glaring daggers at Jeremie. He'd pay for that. She rushed him as he walked toward the elevator shaft, but he tossed her aside and shocked her too. When Elie could finally move again, Jeremie was down the shaft. She'd go after him in a moment; Odd looked like he was seriously hurt. She climbed the rope to the second floor and ran to his side. He was still twitching, and when she touched him she got a nasty shock for her troubles.

"Odd, can you hear me?" Silence, and Elie's heart nearly stopped. She shook him even as the lighting finally faded from him. Still nothing. "Odd, don't you dare be dead!" She snapped, frantically checking for a pulse. Her heart sunk to her stomach when she couldn't feel it and she shook him again. Only when she noticed that his chest was still rising and falling did she calm down. When she looked at his face again, his eyes were open and he was holding his cheek. "You didn't have to smack me." Odd said, grinning at her.

Elie looked at him, confused. She hadn't slapped him. Then again, the red mark on his cheek said otherwise. She must have been really freaked. "You weren't moving." She said, looking away. "Can you stand?"

Odd jumped to his feet and nodded. "Yeah. Did you get Jeremie?" Elie shook her head and motioned to the elevator shaft. "Right then, let's go get him." Odd helped Elie to her feet and slid down the rope to the first floor, then climbed down the elevator shaft. When they'd gotten to the computer room, Jeremie was at the computer. He'd just devirtualized Yumi.

Odd attacked first, pulling Jeremie's attention away from the screen just as he was about to materialize Ulrich. Elie fallowed up with a punch to the back. It didn't hurt him, but at least Odd hadn't been shocked again. After that last one, Elie was worried one more might actually kill him. Glancing at the screen, she saw that Ulrich and Aelita were fighting two blocks and a Scyphozoa had joined the battle. Jeremie took her moment of detraction to throw her against the wall, knocking the breath out of her and leaving her gasping on the floor.

With his attention back on Odd, Jeremie lit his hands up with lightning again and lifted Odd by the shirt. Odd struggled, apparently the lightning hadn't hurt him yet, but she didn't think that would last. Despite her burning lungs and aching chest she stood and rushed forward, grabbing hold of Jeremie's free, lighting-filled hand and pulling the arm back.

Jeremie tried to shake her off, but she wouldn't let go. Then he kicked her in the stomach, flinging her off of his arm and into the nearest wall. This time she saw funny shapes dancing across her eyes. Stars maybe? Or were they birds...? Between the strange shapes she saw Odd crawling away, but Jeremie caught him and put his foot on Odd's chest.

As Odd struggled in vain, Jeremie charged his lightning, lifting it over his head and swinging his arms down.

'No!' Elie lacked the air to scream, but she reached out for her friend even knowing it was to late. Jeremie's hands fell lower and lower... then stopped a mere three inches from Odd's face. The lightning vanished and Jeremie fell to the ground against Odd. Elie sighed in relief; they must have deactivated the tower on Lyoko.

Odd pushed Jeremie off of him and ran to her. "Are you ok?" Odd asked, examining her from head to toe.

Elie let out a weak chuckle and shook her head. "Of course not." She wheezed. "But I'll live." breathing was a chore and talking just made it that much harder. with a groan, Elie stood. Her body screamed at her to just take it easy for once and lay down. But if she did that, the others would see her and know she'd been fallowing them. "Check on Jeremie." Odd hesitated, then did as she asked. While his back was turned, Elie slipped into the elevator, then climbed up to the roof. A moment later, the elevator moved down, picked up Yumi, Ulrich and Aelita, then stopped at the Computer room.

Jeremie was waking up now, though he still seemed out of it to her.

"How are you feeling?" Yumi asked. "Do you remember anything?"

Jeremie was quiet for a minuet, then shook his head. "I'm fine, but... I remember talking to Ulrich and Odd, then nothing. How did I get here?"

"You were possessed by XANA." Aelita said. "He took control of you."

"He destroyed all of Franz Hopper's CDs. Apparently he had a problem with the notes." Ulrich added.

Jeremie sighed in relief, though Elie wasn't sure why. Weren't those important? "I made a copy of them on a restricted part of the super computer. They're safe. No one can access them but me now."

The group relaxed a bit, but Ulrich brought up another point. "But why could XANA take control of Jeremie? He couldn't possess Odd or me."

"I have an idea." Yumi said, holding up her finger. "Apart from Jeremie, we're all used to fighting on Lyoko. Maybe it makes us more resistant to XANA?"

"Maybe." Aelita said, giving Jeremie a wicked smile. "You know what that means, don't you?"

A few minuets later, Jeremie crawled out of the scanner. "I'm NEVER going back there again!"

"I don't see what the big deal is. It was just a couple of Mega Tanks." Ulrich said, laughing.

"I don't care. I'd rather be possessed than go back there again!" Jeremie walked into the elevator. "I'll just keep a look out for ghosts, that's all."

"So, what did he look like on Lyoko?" Aelita asked.

"Hm... How can i put this tactfully?" Odd asked, tapping his finger against his chin.

"Ridiculous." Ulrich said, laughing softly.

Odd nodded and grinned. "Yeah, that's the word."

The group was still laughing as they got to the top floor. Before they got out, Elie jumped off of the roof and landed quietly behind a pile of junk. The others got out of the elevator and started to climb the ropes to leave. Odd was the only one to look back, scanning the room for her. She poked her head out from the trash and smirked at him, then lifted one finger to her lips. Odd nodded, then left with the others. He'd stay quiet about her intervention... for now.


	17. XANA's Curse Part 17: Valentine's Day

Three days later, Elie grinned to herself as she read the back of the Sharktopus DVD she'd borrowed without permission but had every intent of returning. The movie sounded just as horrid as she'd hoped. It had just about killed her to wait out the long school day before she could get hold of it. She stuffed the DVD in her bag and rushed threw the school halls to find Odd. He was going to have kittens when he saw it.

He was standing with Ulrich in the school court yard, and they seemed to be talking about something serious. The expression looked strange on Odd's face... he seemed really angry about something. Ulrich said something else and Odd stormed off. Curious, she fallowed him, stopping him in front of the dorm building.

"Hey Odd." Elie smirked and dug in her back, pulling the pilfered DVD out and displaying it. "Up for a movie night?"

Odd said nothing and Elie lowered the DVD, looking into his glaring eyes. Apparently Odd's conversation with Ulrich had gone very very badly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Odd growled, shoving past Elie and going upstairs. "Leave me alone."

She stood there for a moment, shocked. Odd never got mad, and he never turned down a stupid movie. Putting the DVD in her bag, Elie fallowed him until he walked into his room and slammed the door. Sighing, Elie went to her room and put the DVD in her drawer. Maybe Odd would be cooled down the next day?

But he wasn't. Nor had he calmed down any of the next four days. Any time Elie tried to talk to him, he avoided her or brushed past her. Something was up, and she intended to find out.

On the morning of Friday 14, Elie woke up in dread of the day to come. Valentine's day made fools of everyone. People were consumed with love and anger and jealousy. It was a holiday Elie never saw the point in. All it did was cause problems and unnecessary drama.

Later in class, Elie sat behind Odd and Jeremie. Ulrich sat in the desk to her left giving her strange looks.

"You didn't give her the necklace, did you Odd?" Jeremie asked softly, catching Elie's attention.

"Do I need to remind you that we're supposed to be cousins?" Odd sounded just as grumpy today as he had last time she'd tried to talk to him.

"Yes, but we both know that isn't true. Someone gave Aelita that necklace. Was it you?"

"Why would I?"

Jeremie turned on Ulrich. "What about you? Did you give it to her?" Ulrich shook his head. Elie rolled her eyes. Everyone was getting caught up in the drama of the day.

Jeremie turned back to Odd. "Did you give it to her or not?" Elie hadn't heard Jeremie that angry before, but if someone really had given Aelita a necklace it was hard to blame the guy even if he was taking it over the top.

So what if I did give it to her?" Odd challenged, turning his glare on Jeremie. "Last time I checked, you don't own her."

"So you admit it!" Jeremie stood, pointing a finger accusingly at Odd. Odd stood and slammed his hands on the desk. "I did not!"

They were sent to the principal's office after that and Elie didn't see them again until science class. Elie's seat was behind Aelita and Jeremie, and Odd sat behind her and to the right. From this angle, she could see the simple pink pendant on a black string that was causing so much trouble. As she watched, Elie thought she saw colors swirling and dancing, but dismissed it as a trick of the light.

Aelita whispered to Jeremie, so low that Elie couldn't quite hear it. What she could hear of it was that Aelita wanted to go to Lyoko, but Jeremie didn't want to let her go alone. Odd wasn't speaking to Jeremie at the moment, and apparently something had happened with Ulrich and Yumi. Elie made a note to find out more about that soon.

Then Aelita kissed Jeremie on the cheek, making him fall out of his chair. While most of the class laughed, Jeremie was sent, yet again, to the office.

After class, Aelita pulled Elie aside. "Will you come to Lyoko with me?"

Elie's eyes narrowed. "I thought I was out of the group. It's been weeks."

"Not at all! Why would you think that?"

"Because it's been weeks since you talked to me." Elie had just about given up hope and she didn't want to admit how happy she was that Aelita was talking with her again.

"It doesn't matter now. Let's go. If you go with me, Jeremie will let me go to Lyoko. I think I know where to find the data for the Anti-virus."

"Alright. Lead the way." Something about that didn't seem right... And Elie had a feeling things were going to get worse very quickly.

She fallowed Aelita up to Jeremie's room and leaned on the wall to wait. Soon Jeremie came up the stairs and froze when he saw Elie. "What are you doing here?" He asked, shocked.

"Aelita asked me to go to Lyoko with her." She said simply.

"But you said you didn't want anything to do with us anymore."

"No I didn't!" Elie jerked up off of the wall, just as surprised as Jeremie was now.

"But in the e-mail..."

'What e-mail?" Elie eyed him curiously.

"The one you sent us a few days ago. I sent you one, saying we wanted to talk and you sent one back saying you didn't want anything to do with us anymore and for us to leave you alone."

Elie stood there for a moment, stunned. She would never have said anything like that. "I never got an e-mail from you. I rarely check it these days. It's been weeks since I looked."

"I can show it to you." Jeremie said.

Elie shook her head. "Don't. You wouldn't lie. I just don't understand how. I've been waiting for weeks for someone to talk to me. Besides Odd. Is that why he's so pissed?"

"Yeah. He's been unbearable since we got the message."

Elie closed her eyes for a moment, chewing on her thumb nail as she leaned against the wall again. Someone had to have access to her school email address, and that someone had seen the message and sent one back. But who? "Sissi." Elie sighed. Of course it was her, though Sissi wasn't smart enough to pull this off. Her underling Herb was probably responsible. Elie's opinion of Sissi rose a small degree. Elie had challenged her, and Sissi had rose to meet it, even if it had been this sneaky underhanded tactic. Besides, If Elie actually looked at her E-mail once in a blue moon, maybe the situation could have been avoided. She'd deal with Sissi and Herb later.

"We'll clear this up with the rest later. For now, I didn't send you that message. I've been waiting for you guys to talk to me since... well, you know. I said I would wait, so that's why I've stayed silent. Now, are we going to Lyoko or not?"

Jeremie nodded. "Yeah. It'll be nice to have at least some good come out of today."

It was good to be back on Lyoko. The forest region stretched out before her and Elie took a deep breath of virtual air. Jeremie brought up two vehicles, the Overboard and a new vehicle Elie hadn't seen before. It looked like a condensed hang glider, but with bars on top instead of dangling below it.

"Like it?" Jeremie asked. "I call it the Overwind*."

Elie grinned, letting her fingers slide over the cool metal device. "I like it. It's perfect Jeremie. Thank you." With a grin, she got on and tested the ride out for a moment. She had to bend slightly to hold onto the bars, but it was ok. It naturally put her feet into a position she could easily shift her weight on to steer. She had a feeling the ride could do more, but she'd experiment with that later.

"Ready, Aelita?" Elie asked, looking back just in time to see Aelita jump onto the Overboard and zoom off in the wrong direction. They had to go west to get to the end of the sector, but Aelita was headed north.

"Elie, fallow her. Something's wrong with Aelita." Elie fallowed Jeremie's orders and took her new Overwind. It flew beautifully, but Elie couldn't fully appreciate it just yet. There was an attack to stop first.

Two Krabs got in her way and Elie had to watch Aelita go into a tower while she fought the large monsters.

Elie jumped off her vehicle and landed on top of the first Krab, stabbing it's Eye of XANA mark. The second Krab turned, shooting a laser at Elie that knocked her back a few feet and sent fire pouring along her left arm. She'd forgotten how much the stupid lasers hurt. While she waited for the pain to fade so she could regain control of her arm, Elie ran around the field, weaving behind trees to confuse the monster. Then she saw her opportunity and struck, cutting the left two legs off of the monster, then circling back around to destroy it.

It pleased her to know her skills were still sharp, but the fight had taken to long. Getting back on the Overwind, Elie fallowed Aelita into the tower and down, coming out in the glacial sector. In the distance, Elie could see the dot of pink that had to be Aelita.

"Jeremie, call for back up." Elie said, looking at the six Blocks that were in her way. At this rate she was never going to catch Aelita.

"They're already on their way. Odd, Ulrich and Yumi are getting in the scanners now."

Elie nodded and flew low, landing just outside the group of blocks. She only had to dodge for a few moments before Odd's arrows killed the block to her left, and Yumi's fans got a block near the back of the group. Elie turned, waving as she jumped and landed on top of a near by block. She stabbed the Eye and jumped off, landing in front of them with a smirk.

"What are you doing here?" Ulrich asked, letting Yumi and Odd go forward.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you after the fight. We'll handle the blocks. Stop Aelita." Elie pointed and Ulrich nodded, activating Super Sprint and running off.

In no time, the blocks were defeated and Elie, Odd and Yumi were on the Overwind, trying to catch up.

"It's good to have you back." Yumi said, smiling. Elie smirked. "It's good to be back." She saw Aelita and Ulrich a short way ahead of them, and flew low to drop Yumi and Odd off. Elie circled and landed a short way behind Ulrich. The group had Aelita surrounded.

"Leave me alone!" Aelita held her hand up and the ice under Yumi's feet vanished. Ulrich ran forward and grabbed her hand before Yumi could fall into the digital sea far below.

"Jeremie, bring her back!" Elie urged, trying to block the now charging Aelita. It didn't work, and Aelita got past her.

Odd soon joined Elie in the chase, but they were quickly blocked off by a wall of Ice that Aelita had created, trapping her in an area with the Scyphozoa.

"Odd, grab on!" Elie flew over, letting Odd grab onto the bars on the Overwind's bottom, then carrying him over the wall and landing with him. Odd shot his arrows at the Scyphozoa, but rather than making it leave, it just backed off a bit. Aelita turned, glaring at Odd. She lifted her hand and froze Odd and Elie's legs to the ground.

She cursed. "Jeremie, any ideas?"

"One." He said, "But it's risky."

Elie turned, seeing Ulrich attacking the wall of ice; Yumi had to be ok then. "Just tell us." Ulrich said, still slashing uselessly at the ice.

"Odd, shoot Aelita." Jeremie said. "XANA's after her memory. He won't risk losing that. Deep down, he wants her alive just as much as we do."

Odd shook his head. "But if we go to far..."

"I know. She won't materialize. I said it was risky."

Elie nodded. "Do it Odd. It's worth a shot."

Odd hesitated, then nodded and took aim. Elie held her breath as she watched arrow after arrow slam into Aelita, wincing in sympathy with each impact. Finally, when Aelita was down to a mere ten life points, XANA let her go and the Scyphozoa fled. If the Ice hadn't kept her so firmly in place, Elie would have fallen to her knees with relief. Aelita was safe, and the attack was over.

It turned out that the necklace Aelita had gotten in the middle of the night, the one that had caused so many problems, contained a computer chip, which XANA used to posses Aelita. Jeremie held onto it to examine later.

Elie explained that she hadn't sent the message saying she wanted the group to leave her alone and was accepted happily back into the group. They still had a lot to talk about, but it had been a long enough day; they'd talk about everything tomorrow.

That night, Elie sat in her dorm listening to a CD and relaxing when someone knocked on her door. It was Odd, looking embarrassed.

"Come in." Elie said, motioning for him to sit.

He nodded and sat in the computer chair. "Elie, I'm sorry."

"For what?" What did he have to apologize for...?

"The other day, when you wanted to watch the movie... I brushed you off. I was just so mad at you for that message..."

"Relax. There's nothing to forgive, so stop apologizing."

Odd smiled sheepishly up at her and Elie smiled back. "I missed that." He said softly.

Elie looked at him, puzzled. "Missed what?"

"Seeing you smile."

Elie blushed and looked away. "Stop being silly. I smile all the time when we're watching movies."

"Yes, but that's a different smile. I like that one too, and I like hearing you laugh, but it's not the same."

Elie's heart thudded in her chest and she scrambled to find something to say. "Well, I've still got Sharktopus, if you're up for it." She as glad she hadn't given away how unbalanced he'd made her. She was rewarded with a wide grin.

Elie smirked and tossed him the DVD. As Odd put it in her computer, she fished out some chips and settled on her bed. Odd stayed close by in the chair. Everything was finally back to normal.

"Hey, Elie?" Odd asked, looking at her. The movie was over, as was their round of laughter.

Elie turned, watching the light from her computer illuminate his face. He seemed nervous about something. "What's up?"

"I got something for you." He held up a small box, roughly the size of her hands.

Curious, Elie accepted and opened it. Inside she found two small plushies. One of Jack and one of Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas.

"I know it's your favorite movie." He said, blushing. "And when I saw them in the store, I wanted to get them for you."

Elie looked at the two figures, overcome with emotion. She loved them, and no one had ever just given her something before. There were always strings attached to gifts, but not this one. But she was also scared. Was this really a valentine's day gift? Or was it just coincidence...? No, she really doubted that. Despite her fears and other emotions she couldn't even name, Elie smiled. "Thank you Odd. I love them."

Odd seemed to relax at her words and Elie's smile grew a bit. "I'm glad." He said. "I would have felt really silly if you hadn't." Elie laughed and shoved him playfully.

"I should get back. Lights out and all." He said, standing and stretching.

"Right..." Elie didn't want Odd to go yet. That thought scared her too, but she ignored it. She'd been having a good time... that was all. "Good night..." She stood, still holding onto Jack and Sally. Without warning, she stepped forward and hugged him. After a second, she felt his arms wrap around her slowly, as if he wasn't sure this was really happening, or as if he wanted to make sure she wouldn't run away.

The two only pulled away when they heard Jim calling for lights out in the hall. "Right. I'd better get going. I don't want Jim to find us and put a stop on our movie nights."

"Yeah... Good night Odd." Elie said, trying to ignore the heat that flooded her face. "See you in the morning." Odd waved and left, and Elie locked the door behind him, still not believing that she'd just done that.

She crawled into her bed, replaying the scene over and over in her mind as she clutched Jack and Sally close to her. Some how, the plushies made everything seem better, even threw her swirling emotions.

(( *The Overwind looks like this: . ))


	18. XANA's Curse Part 18: Missing Code

((Hello Everyone! I'm sorry for not updating in a while. My sister surprised me and my family with a visit. She lives on the other side of the country and it had been over a year since I'd seen her so we wanted to spend as much time together as possible. To make up for my time off, I'm working extra hard on the story (All that time off gave me plenty of time to plan new things ;) ) and plan to have more chapters up in the days to come. ))

Elie groaned and glared at her door. For once it wasn't her alarm clock that woke her up and she desperately missed the song. The clock read 5:47 AM and she groaned again. "I'm up. Just a sec." Elie put her new Jack and Sally plushies against her clock and shut the alarm off. There wasn't any point in it now; there was no way she was going back to sleep. Once her contacts were in she cracked the door open to see Aelita smiling at her. "What is it?" Elie asked, noticing that Aelita was already dressed.

"We're going to Lyoko, remember?"

"No. But give me a sec to get dressed." Elie closed her door back and put on the first outfit she found. A simple black tee and black jeans with her usual converse. After running a comb threw her hair, Elie stretched and opened her door again. Aelita was still waiting for her. Elie smirked in greeting and the two made their way to the factory. Half way there they met with the boys.

"Morning." Jeremie greeted.

Elie nodded her greeting and looked at Odd, who grinned and waved. "I forgot to tell you about this last night." Odd said, embarrassed. "It kinda slipped my mind. Sorry."

"It's fine. What are we doing this time?"

"We're going to Sector Five." Aelita said. "But we're looking for something other than the Anti-virus today. We wanted to see if we could find any data about you."

"Me? Why?" Elie's eyebrow lifted a bit. Why would there be anything about her in sector five?

"It's just a hunch." Jeremie said, putting his hand on her shoulder for a moment. "But the Scyphozoa has only ever attacked Aelita before. But the other day, it attacked you too. We want to know why."

Elie nodded. It had bothered her too, but she'd done her best to forget about it in the past week. She doubted they'd find anything, but maybe they would find something about the Anti-virus while they were looking.

They had been expecting Yumi to meet them at the factory, but she was uncharacteristically late, though she showed up a few minuets after Elie and the group was on Lyoko.

"Sorry I'm late guys. I had stuff to do this morning." Yumi said, smiling at her friends.

"Yeah, like being with William." Ulrich said, shooting a glare at Yumi.

Yumi glared back. "Excuse me?"

"You must think I'm really dumb-"

"Stop it." Elie said, moving between the two. "We've got company." Five Kankrelats were closing in on the group. As Yumi and Ulrich got into position they gave each other one more glare, then dove into the fight.

The Kankrelats went down without much fight, but more showed up soon after. Then even more came. Ulrich ran threw the mass, slashing at any enemy he could while Odd climbed a tree to get better shot at the Eye of XANA marks. Aelita was hiding behind a tree, and Elie took up a position to protect her, killing the monsters that came her way.

Then the Scyphozoa came and Elie got ready to fend it off. Only... it didn't come for Aelita, or even for Elie. It attacked Yumi.

"Ulrich! Behind you. It's attacking Yumi!"

It was to late. The Scyphozoa had it's tentacles around Yumi and was draining her. Ulrich turned and saw the attack, then ran to cut the tentacles off. The Kankrelats left when the Scyphozoa did, and Elie ran to Yumi's side.

"Are you OK?" Ulrich asked, helping Yumi to sit up.

"Yeah... I feel a little funny." Yumi said, rubbing her head.

"What about your memory?" Elie asked.

"Fine, I think."

"I'm bringing you all back." Jeremie said. "This is to dangerous. Odd, Aelita, Yumi, I'm bringing you back first."

Odd and Aelita vanished, but Yumi remained. "Try again Jeremie. Yumi's still here." Ulrich said, though Elie got a bad feeling about this.

Elie closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she was in the scanner room. Ulrich was back too, but there was still no sign of Yumi. The group shared a look and went up to see Jeremie as quickly as they could.

"Yumi, I don't know what's going on. I can't devirtualize you." Jeremie said as the elevator doors opened into the computer room. "Go hide in a tower until we figure this out. South by south east." Jeremie turned his chair to look at the group, then turned back to the computer. "Don't worry about XANA. You'll be safe in the tower."

"It's not XANA I'm worried about." Yumi said, sighing. "It's the principal."

"Huh?" Jeremie tilted his head very slightly to the side.

"Oh no! I almost forgot today's the class picture!" Ulrich smacked himself on the forehead.

"What picture?"

"Hello! It's the Ninth Grade Picture. It's this morning." Odd said. "It's one day's suspension for any unjustified absence."

"Can you imagine my parent's faces if I get suspended?" Elie could hear the groan in Yumi's voice.

"Hey, I've got an idea. You know how great an actor I am. A wig, a dress, a little make up, and bam! Signed, sealed and delivered." Odd grinned.

"More like signed sealed and suspended." Yumi shot back, making Elie smirk.

"That's actually not a bad idea." Ulrich said, putting his chin in his hand thoughtfully.

"There, you finally admit that I'm a great actor!" Odd said, grinning.

"No, you suck. But someone could stand in for her." Ulrich looked at Aelita.

Aelita shook her head. "No. I don't look anything like Yumi. What about Elie?"

"No way. She's even shorter than Odd! Besides she'd way to pale." Ulrich shook his head. "I do know someone, though. But..." He trailed off and Elie motioned for him to continue. "Sissi."

Elie was the first to leave. She wanted to have a word with Sissi before Ulrich showed up. At this hour, Sissi could only be in the bathroom, taking up all the hot water again. She'd call Ulrich and let him know where Sissi was when she was done.

Sissi was exactly where Elie thought she was, putting on her make up. "Sissi, we need to talk."

Sissi turned, glaring at Elie. "Well if it isn't the goth queen herself. What do you want?"

Elie rolled her eyes. "As entertaining as it would be to fight with you, that's not why Im here. Actually, I came for two reasons. The first is to congratulate you. I didn't think you'd have the guts to stand up to me." She smirked as Sissi feigned innocence. "Spare me. You did a good job, even if you didn't actually hack my account and write that letter to my friends. I'll bet Herb did it."

Sissi gave up her act. "Yes, but it was my idea. I saw that you were on the outs with your friends and you did tell me to mess with you instead."

Elie smirked. "Tell Herb I said good job. Very observant of you, by the way. I hope your next attempts are as interesting as this one. But I digress. The second thing I came is to give you some advice."

"What kind of advice could you possibly give me?" Sissi turned her back on Elie and got to work on her make up.

"Oh, I could give you lots of advice. For instance, you should blend the make up on your face with your neck. There's a clear line where the tones are different. But that's not the advice I came to give you." Elie smiled very slightly as Sissi rubbed the make up on her chin into her neck, trying to act like that's not what she was doing.

"Then what is it?" Sissi's voice was short and crisp with hidden embarrassment.

"Try to be nice once in a blue moon."

Sissi glared. "Is this one of those 'you attract more flies with honey' things?"

"Actually, you attract more flies with shit, but yes. I know you want to be Ulrich's friend. I don't approve, but my opinion doesn't matter. I don't like you, but I don't hate you quite as much. It took guts to come after me." Elie stood and waved. "Oh, and don't forget to give my regards to Herb." She left the bathroom, smiling very slightly at the stunned silence in the room behind her. Elie sent Ulrich a text to let him know where he could find Sissi, then waited for him and Odd to arrive.

Sissi came out a moment after the boys arrived. "Sissi, I have a favor I have to ask you." Ulrich grinned, though it looked pained to Elie. Sissi didn't seem to notice.

"What is it?"

"Well, since Yumi can't be here today... we were hopping that you would take her place in the ninth grade class photo today."

Sissi remained quiet for a moment, then smiled. "Ok."

Ulrich and Odd shared a look and Elie closed her eyes. Maybe Sissi had actually listened to her.

"What do you want in exchange?" Ulrich asked.

"Oh, what kind of person do you think I am? Just call it a personal favor and let that be that." Sissi walked into her room. "Give me a moment to change."

Elie sat against the wall, knowing they would be in for a long wait. To kill time, she called Jeremie to see how things were going.

"Any progress?" She asked.

"Not yet. It seems like XANA took part of Yumi's DNA code. Without that, she can't be materialized." Jeremie sighed heavily.

Elie winced. "That's bad... Can you fix it?"

"No... not yet at least. I need more time."

Elie nodded. "Alright Jeremie. Let me know if i can do anything to help. Oh, Sissi said yes by the way. She's getting dressed right now."

"Thanks. I'll keep you updated." Jeremie hung up and Elie put her phone in her pocket to wait.

Half an hour later, Sissi came out of the room wearing a blue dress that was cut low and had a short skirt with high boots. "Well, how does it look?" She asked.

"Well, um... the hair looks like Yumi's." Odd said.

Ulrich shook his head and stood. "Yeah, but the clothes are wrong. She wears black and her outfits aren't usually so..."

"Sexy?" Sissi supplied. "Well, why don't you bring me one of her dresses?"

"Good idea." Ulrich said. "We'll go find one."

Elie stood and sighed. "I'll go with you." When Sissi closed her door, Elie added. "I doubt either of you have ever broken into someone's house before."

Ulrich and Odd gave her a look and she shrugged. "Well, it's true. Are we going or what?"

The house was easy to get into. The Ishiyama's left the back door open and Elie slipped in without a sound. She got the dress without issue, and Elie had to take a moment to admire Yumi's wardrobe. Maybe they could trade outfits some time? Even if Yumi was much taller than she was. Outside, she heard someone's cell phone go off and sighed. her 'look outs' were going to get her caught.

Elie heard foot steps in the hall and ducked into Yumi's closet just as Yumi's mother opened the door and looked around. "I guess Yumi left already..." She said, turning and closing the door.

Elie sighed in relief and came out of the closet after she couldn't hear the woman's footsteps anymore. Rather than risk the hall, Elie climbed down the wall outside of the house and gave the dress to Odd. "Who called?"

"Jeremie. Aelita's trying to give Yumi her DNA code so Yumi can come back to earth." Ulrich said. "We need to go stop her!"

"Why? And how would a transfer like that even work? You can't mess with someone's DNA."

"I don't know how it would work, but Jeremie said that if Aelita gives her code away, her memory won't be protected anymore. XANA could just take it without even using the Scyphozoa. And Aelita won't respond to him."

Elie nodded. "OK. I'll get to the factory and stop them. You guys take the dress."

"But-"

"No buts. I'm faster than both of you. Now go. 'Yumi' still need to be there for the picture."

She turned and went into the sewer entrance outside of Yumi's house and ran to the factory. Rather than stop and waist time, she called Jeremie so he would get the scanner ready.

"Hurry up. The transfer is almost 80% done!"

"Don't worry. I'm almost there. Just get the scan ready." A few moments later, Elie was on Lyoko and running for the tower. "Stop!" She called, panting as she entered the tower. "Stop the transfer!" Yumi and Aelita turned to look at her. "If you give the code away, your memory will be vulnerable!"

Aelita turned and touched one of the panels, causing the light that had been moving between them vanish. "Elie, when did you...?"

"Never mind about that. Why did you try to give your code away?"

Aelita looked down. "I thought it would help... Yumi needs to go back to earth and I'm used to being here so..."

Elie sighed and smirked at her friend. "Your heart was in the right place, but you should have listened to Jeremie. He tried to warn you." Aelita looked down and Elie put her hand on Aelita's shoulder. "You were just trying to help. It's alright. No one got hurt, and everything's alright now. Sissi's taking Yumi's place in the photo, so we just need to focus on finding Yumi's code."

"Thanks, Elie." Aelita smiled and Yumi nodded.

"Oh!" Aelita looked up with a huge smile. "I've got it! If XANA took her code, then it must be in the computer in sector five, right?"

"Aelita, you're a genius!" Yumi grinned. "Let's go!"

"Jeremie?" Elie asked. "What about the boys?"

"No, they're still at school. You guys are on your own... but do you think you can really find it?" He asked.

Aelita nodded. "I'm sure it's there."

"Ok. Get to the edge of the sector."

Elie, Yumi and Aelita stood waiting in Sector Five's antechamber. The door would open any second, and then they'd have to stop the count down. The door opened to Elie's left and the girls took off running. They found surprisingly little resistance at first, but soon five creepers showed up. "Yumi, I'll keep these guys busy. Find the switch!"

Elie dodged to the right and slashed her knives across one of the Creeper's marks, then flipped to avoid a laser. A third laser came and she couldn't avoid it. All she could think was that she really didn't want to be hit and then... the laser went threw her. For a moment, Elie stood in stunned silence. The laser had gone right threw her. The next one didn't, and air was forced from her lungs as pain filled her back. She turned and attacked, cutting threw a second creeper, then a third.

"I found it!" Yumi called, pressing the button. The Creepers fled and Elie relaxed. She'd have to try that again. What if she'd just found her first power?

"Good work Yumi! Let's go." The three ran to the elevator, and soon arrived at the platform. Aelita got to work on the monitor and Elie scanned the walls, waiting for the monsters to come forth.

"Jeremie, get our rides ready."

"On it, Elie. Aelita, have you found it yet?" Jeremie asked.

"Not yet." Aelita said, sifting threw page after page. "But I think I'm getting close."

"Better hurry. Look at the walls." Yumi pointed up and Elie could see several bulges in the wall. Soon, they would have to fight of the Mantas.

"I'm working on it." Aelita said.

"Not yet, just a bit longer... There! I found it. Jeremie, I'm sending you the code."

Elie looked over as the Overwind and Over wing appeared. "Yumi, get ready to go."

After a moment, the Mantas hatched from the wall. "Aelita, let's go, come on!" Elie got on the Overwind and took off, flying up towards the monsters to give Aelita and Yumi time to close the monitor and get on the Overwing.

Elie leaned, throwing herself into a spin to dodge the attacks, then swooped down. Aelita and Yumi were ready. "Jeremie, open the tunnel!"

"I'm on it." He said, and the three fled.

With the data, Jeremie was able to fix Yumi's code, and soon the girls were back on earth. "Good work, Aelita." Elie said, stretching as the Elevator went up to the computer room. Jeremie joined them and they continued their assent. "I can't believe you found the right code."

"That's not all she found." Jeremie said, holding up a disk. "She found data on you."


	19. XANA's Curse Part 19: The Data

Elie looked at Jeremie, surprise on her face. "Me? Are you sure?"

"Very. And it goes back twelve years, from before the Super Computer was shut down. There's not much here, but it's definitely you."

Elie shook her head. "There's got to be some sort of mistake. Maybe the data he got from me when the Scyphozoa attacked me got mixed in with some old data."

"It's possible, but unlikely Elie. But I made a copy so i can get a better look at it after class."

Elie looked down, a thousand questions spinning in her head. How could XANA have data on her..? It just didn't seem possible. Especially if the data was so old. Wasn't her past screwed up enough as it was without the possibility of XANA in it? "Let me know what you find out."

Elie remained quiet the rest of the day, only talking when someone asked her a direct question. Her friends seemed to understand that she needed space, but it was Odd who cheered her up. "Hey Elie, I got another movie. What do you say?"

"What is it?"

"Mega Python vs. Gatoroid." Odd grinned and held up the DVD case. This one was a bit older, but it still made Elie smile slightly to see it.

"Yeah. Let's go." The two went up to Elie's room and got into position. Before Odd pressed play, though, he turned and looked at her. "Are you worried?"

"About what?"

"The data Aelita found."

"Of course I'm worried Odd." Elie said, looking away. She tried to hide the fact that she was holding on to the new Jack and Sally dolls, but she thought Odd saw them anyway. "Wouldn't you be?"

"You've got a point there..." Odd remained silent for a bit longer. "It'll be ok, you know. No mater what's on that disk, you're still Elie."

Elie turned and smiled at Odd. It was a strange expression, one she hadn't felt on her face before. The smile was soft, vulnerable. Open. She turned her head away quickly and hid her expression with a mask of indifference. "Just play the movie Odd. This one looks like it'll be horrid." Odd hesitated for a moment before smiling at her and pressing play. Elie tossed him some chips and the two settled in.

The next day, Elie went up to Jeremie's room before school. If he's found anything out she wanted to know as soon as possible. His door was open and Elie leaned against the open door frame. "Hey."

Jeremie turned, smiling a bit. "Hey Elie. I've been looking at the data, but there's not much i can get from it. What I did get is interesting though. Your avatar was created twelve years ago and was active on Lyoko for a year and a half, roughly. A few months later, the Super Computer was shut down. I also found a few specs on your avatar."

Elie walked into the room and eyed the screen. It was an image of her Lyoko avatar with text boxes and graphs around it. One box caught her eye. "Phaze - The subject is able to move threw objects, or 'phaze'. It doesn't look like it was meant for combat, does it?"

Jeremie shook his head. "No, it doesn't. And look at this one." Jeremie pointed to a box that read Possession. "The subject uses the 'Phaze' ability to gain control of Lyoko's towers. In this way she will be able to interact with the outside world." Elie looked at Jeremie, trying to read his expression. He seemed more fascinated than worried, but Elie had a massive lump in her stomach.

There were two other boxes with her avatar's powers on them, so she took a look. "Creativity- The subject can use this ability to add to Lyoko. In this way, we hope to help Lyoko grow. Mimic - The subject is able to copy any object she has touched." Elie closed her eyes, thinking about the new powers. "They don't seem like combat abilities... do they?"

"No, they don't. They remind me more of Aelita's powers than Odd's, Ulrich's or Yumi's." Jeremie turned and pointed to one other box. "This one is what worries me the most. And it's the most confusing."

All of her instincts told her to run, to ignore the box and the data and just go on living like she had. Things were complicated enough already. Sadly, she knew she couldn't do that. Bracing herself, Elie read. "The transition was not perfect. Weather due to the subject's young age or physical instability, we do not know. Further investigation is required."

Elie looked at Jeremie. "It could be talking about anyone."

"Elie, the Lyoko avatars are created by a person's DNA. They are unique to each person. I don't see how it couldn't be you."

"Shut up and let me have my delusion, ok?" She gave him a fairly weak half smile. Jeremie shook his head and her smile fell. "I guess you'll be telling the others about this at breakfast?"

"Yes. They need to know."

Elie nodded, the lump in her stomach seeming to grow as she fallowed Jeremie out of the room.

"Are you sure, Jeremie?" Yumi asked, leaning forward. "That doesn't seem possible."

"I know, but the data says otherwise." Jeremie shrugged.

"But that would mean Elie lived here as a kid, but she's from America." Ulrich pointed out. "Maybe she'd got a twin."

Elie shook her head. "No. Dad said Mom died giving birth to me. If I'd had a twin, I would have known."

"What about your dad? Could you contact him? He might know something about Lyoko." Yumi asked.

Elie shook her head again. "No... Dad died when i was young too."

"Is that how you ended up working for those guys?" Ulrich asked.

Elie winced a bit; she had hoped they wouldn't bring that up so soon. "Yes. Rather than go into DSS, I ended up on the streets. That's beside the point though. We're talking about the data, not me."

"How long did you live on the streets?" Aelita asked.

"A few days. Can we drop it? This is more important." Elie glared at the group until Jeremie spoke up.

"Elie, I want to do a scan on you. And we should go to Lyoko so you can test out your abilities. Aelita can show you how to use creativity, but I'm not sure about the others." Jeremie said, taking a bite of his eggs.

"Fine, but finding Aelita's Anti-virus has to be our top priority still. I don't particularly care about my 'connection' with the computer and Aelita needs to get free so we can shut it down. If I've still got questions by then, I'll be fine not knowing."

"But-" Aelita started, but Elie glared at her.

"No but, Aelita. Your Anti-virus is more important than this."

"Ok. I do have one thing to say though."

Elie sighed and waited. "What if you're like me? What if shutting the computer down will kill you too."

"Then we can't shut it down!" Odd said, looking around the table. "Not if it would hurt Elie."

"Relax. I doubt it will. You said you tried to shut the computer down once and Aelita blacked out, right?" When Jeremie nodded, Elie continued. "I've never blacked out before. If I had that virus, then I would have, right?"

"You could have been sleeping." Odd pointed out. "I don't want to take any chances."

Elie gave him a half smile. "Don't worry so much. Besides, Jeremie will know soon enough. When do you want to go Jeremie?"

"After class. I think just the two of us should go this time. There hasn't been an attack yet and Ulrich and Odd need to study for tomorrow's math test."

Yumi laughed. "True, and it'll be nice to spend some time with my parents. Call us when you've got something?"

Jeremie nodded. "I'll keep you all updated."

"I want to go too." Aelita said. "Like you said, i can show Elie how to use Creativity. Besides, if XANA does attack, I should be there to deactivate the tower. Elie can protect me."

"She's right Jeremie. Better safe than sorry."

Jeremie nodded. "Alright girls. I'll see you after class."

Learning to use Creativity was harder than Elie expected. She'd barely managed to make a rock wall in front of her before her head started throbbing. "You do this all the time?" Elie asked.

Aelita laughed slightly. "Yes, but i don't get headaches, remember? Not on here at least."

Elie nodded and looked up at the sky and near by tower. "Think we can take a break? Maybe i can try Phazing threw the rock now."

Aelita nodded and Elie looked at the orange-tented rock of the Desert area. She had done this already when that monster attacked. Surely she could do it again. Elie closed her eyes and thought about not feeling anything, then took two steps forward. She passed threw the rock without any problem.

Grinning at Aelita, Elie did it again. This was really easy! The fun was spoiled a minuet later when Elie saw a Krab in the distance. XANA had finally noticed them. "Aelita, get to the tower." Aelita nodded and left.

She'd suspected that XANA would notice them, so they'd stayed close to a tower for a quick exit. Elie ran forward, using a rock to get on top of the Krab and stab it's mark. "Jeremie, is she off yet?"

"Yes. She just got here. I'm bringing you in now."

"Thanks." Elie scanned the area for other monsters, knowing that XANA would never send just one, but there was nothing on the horizon. Then, from behind the rock she'd just used, the Scyphozoa appeared and wrapped it's tentacles around her.

"Jeremie!" Elie only had time for the one word, the one cry of help, before the images started flashing in her mind. She saw so many things, things about Lyoko, about XANA, and about herself...


	20. XANA's Curse Part 20: The Past (Part 2)

"Papa?" Elie looked up at the lean lank man in front of her. As always her father was leaning over his computer. He had dark circles under his brown eyes and his brown hair had several strands of silver in it.

The man looked up as if surprised to hear her. "Sarah, what are you doing here? You should be in bed. The doctor said you needed lots of rest." He turned and offered his hand to her. Elie accepted his help and climbed onto his lap.

"I couldn't sleep Papa." She said softly, looking at her father's computer screen. "Will you read me a story?"

The memory felt bitter sweet, but Elie didn't know why. She knew that she was a little over three years old. Already she could read and talk better than most kindergarteners, not that she'd ever actually been to a school before. Elie- Sarah, that was her real name. Funny that she had forgotten it- had been born frail and sickly. She was constantly getting sick and had just recently gotten over some bug or another that had left her bedridden for over a week. Her father had stayed by her side as much as he could, but Elie knew he had important work to do and tried not to pull him away to often.

"Of course, Pumpkin." Elie's father stood, holding his young daughter in his arms and took her back to her room. Elie's room was painted up in shades of green, and her wooden furniture made it look almost like a forest.

After setting Elie down and covering her with a blanket, the man sat on a near by stool. "What story did you have in mind?" He asked, giving her that kind smile she loved so much.

"The one about Lilly Lamb!" Elie pleaded. It was her favorite story, one she requested almost every night. Her father chuckled and Elie snuggled a bit farther into her blankets.

"Once upon a time..." Her father said softly. "There was a little lamb named Lilly. Lilly dreamed of traveling the world and seeing sights that no other lamb had seen before. But Lilly was a small lamb, and her flock wanted to keep her safe at home. "But I want to see mountains." Lilly said. "The mountains are far and high up. You could fall!" her father said. "But I want to see forests!" Lilly said again. "The forests are dark and deep. You could get lost!" Her mother said. "I want to see the great deserts!" "But the Desert is hot and dry, you could burn up!" "I want to see the snow and Ice of the north." "But it's so cold there! You could freeze!" Her Aunt and Uncle replied. Saddened, Lilly went out to the field to watch the stars. "You could go." A voice said behind her. Lilly turned and there stood the largest whitest ram she had ever seen. "But I could fall." She said. "You are strong; You will pick yourself up again." "But I could get lost or burn or freeze." Lilly replied. "You are smart. You can make maps and shelter." Lilly turned to look up at the stars again, and when she looked back, the large ram was gone. Heartened by his words, Lilly went home and packed. She went to the forests and the mountains. She even went to the desert and far up to the north. And when she came home again, her family couldn't wait to hear of all her adventures."

Elie smiled at the story. "Thank you Papa."

"Good night Sarah." Her father stood and kissed her on the forehead.

"One day, I'll go traveling too. I'll see the forest, and the desert, and the mountains. I'll even see the snows up north."

Her father got that sad look in his eyes, but he smiled to hide it. Elie wasn't fooled. "But you don't have a magic ram to guide you." he pointed out.

"Yes I do." Elie said earnestly. "I've got you Papa."

"Yes you do." He said, a bit of the sadness falling away. "Good night, sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite."

Elie laughed and closed her eyes, dreaming of all the places in the world she would go see when she was older.

The next day, Elie woke with a terrible cough. Her father came in with her medicine and helped her to drink the foul tasting syrup and eat a few pills, then set some pillows behind her back so she could relax better.

"Thanks, Papa." Elie said softly once she'd caught her breath. She smiled up at him. "I'm alright now."

Her father smiled back, though his eyes were worried. "Are you sure?"

Elie nodded. "Go work. I'm sorry i pulled you away again."

"Never be sorry for that." Her father said, patting her head. "I hate to keep leaving you like this, but Franz and I are so close to a breakthrough."

"Its ok Papa." Elie could feel the need to cough again, but tried to fight it back for her father's sake.

"I'll send Aelita in to take care of you." He said, then left. Aelita came in a few minuets later, as Elie was having yet another coughing fit. The older pink haired girl helped Elie drink a bitter liquid that smelled strongly of Lemon. "It's ok, Sarah." Aelita said softly. "See, doesn't that feel better?"

Elie's coughing had calmed down and she nodded, whipping her streaming eyes and nose on a tissue. "Yes. Thank you." Elie leaned against her pillows and sighed. Already she could feel more coughs scratching at her throat. "Is there more?"

Aelita nodded and Elie smiled softly in appreciation. "How was school?" Elie asked. School was one of the things Elie was most looking forward to in the years to come. Sure, she wouldn't be around her Papa as much, but being able to study and learn about new things made it worth it. She would have homework and could spend her nights reading the text books her teacher gave her and talking with her papa about what she learned once he'd stopped working.

"It was fine. I read a new poem I think you'd like."

As Aelita read, Elie started to doze, only to be roughly woken by coughing. Her chest hurt, her lungs hurt, and it was all she could do to get in small breaths between the violent bursts. Even Aelita couldn't get the soothing liquid into her mouth. Even her Papa couldn't when he came running in. Dimly she heard her father yelling, but that wasn't right. Papa never yelled. Her vision started to get blurry and breathing got even harder.

"I know we haven't done all of the tests on it, but we've got to try!" He yelled. Elie thought she saw the grey haired Franz, but she wasn't sure. She couldn't hear what he was saying either. Elie's father lifted her and ran threw the halls.

"I don't care! We've got to do something. I won't let Sarah die!" Her papa was yelling again. Elie lifted a shaking hand to his face, trying to tell him not to yell, that she wasn't dying and that it would be alright, but she was coughing to hard.

Elie's father put her in a strange metal tube and grabbed her hand. "Don't worry, Sarah. This might be scary, but be brave for Papa, ok?"

Elie couldn't respond past her coughing. The tube closed around her. For the first time in her young life, Elie was scared. What would happen? Why was she here? Where had her Papa gone? She heard the machine around her come to life and the tube filled with light. Elie shut her eyes tightly and then...

She opened her eyes and found not the odd yellow tube, but a lush green forest surrounding her. The trees rose high into the sky and the grass under her feet was short and soft. Looking down was strange... the ground was farther away than before. "Papa?" Elie called, spinning around. For the first time her chest didn't hurt. She felt wonderful, like she could run around for days.

"I'm here, Sarah." Elie turned, but no one was there.

"Where are you?"

"I'm not where you are now. You're on a place called Lyoko. I've been working on it for a long time." He said.

Elie turned around again, still looking for where her father's voice was coming from. "You won't find me." He said. "It's a bit complicated, but think of it like a phone. Only we don't need a number to call someone. You can think about me and talk to me any time i'm at the computer."

"Papa, why am I here...?"

"That's a bit more complicated Pumpkin. You know you were sick..."

"Yes."

"The doctors... they said you were too sick. You wouldn't have lived much longer."

"I don't understand." Elie confessed. She hated not understanding things.

Her father's voice shook when he said. "The doctors said you would fall asleep one day but you wouldn't wake up."

"I still don't get it..."

"I know Pumpkin. It's a hard thing to understand, and even harder to explain. But the point is, we incorporated you into our work. The world you are on, Lyoko, is a world you can live on and never get sick again. You can run, and play, and go places."

"Like Lilly Lamb?" Elie asked excitedly.

"Yes. Just like Lilly."

Elie jumped for joy and turned as if all the new places in the world were just a few steps away.

"You do have a job to do though." Her father said and Elie payed attention to him again, her plans of exploration set aside for now.

"Anything Papa. What should I do?"

"Around the areas, there are buildings. Towers. Can you go to one?"

Elie looked around and saw one in the distance. "Ok Papa!" She ran, enjoying the feel of actually running. She'd been trapped in a bed for her whole life; running was the most exquisite gift anyone could have given her.

She went into a tower, more by accident than anything else. She tried to stop and ended up running into it. "I'm here."

"Very good. Go to the middle of the tower."

She did and was lifted up to a second platform. On this platform she found a screen. "What's this...?"

"Touch it."

She did and all sorts of data and words appeared. "It's like a book!" she beamed.

"Yes, but a very hard book. That will tell you everything you need to know about Lyoko, and why we made it. Will you read this? Can you study it?"

"Yeah!" Elie sat down, bringing the screen with her. "Papa, what's Carthage?"

"You'll know soon enough. You are young, but one of the brightest girls I've ever met."

"Papa, when can I come back?"

Her father was silent for a long time. "You.. You can't sweetie. I'm afraid you can't come back."

"Why not?" She stood and looked up as if her father would be standing there waiting for her.

"Because here you are to sick. You'd fall asleep and never wake up again."

"But I want to see you papa!" Elie started to cry.

"I know Pumpkin... I know. I'll study... I'll find a way. We'll work together to find it. Can you do that for me?" He asked. "We'll both study. We'll talk every day."

"But I miss you." Elie bawled like a spoiled brat, but she didn't care. This wasn't fair! She wanted to be with her Papa and didn't understand why she couldn't see him anymore.

"I miss you too Sarah. But this is the only way."

Elie shook her head. "It can't be."

"Then we'll have to find the other way together. Will you help us?"

Elie looked at the screen and nodded. "...Ok Papa..."

She sat down and began to study. Most of it was way over her head, but in time she came to understand all of it. There was a program called XANA that managed and cared for Lyoko. It had other functions, but Elie didn't know what they were. In time XANA began to ask her questions. She did her best to answer them, and the program soon became her friend. After all, other than Franz and her Papa, Elie had no one to talk to or be with. It was a lonely life.

Elie leaned that her Avatar, which looked far older than she actually was (though she didn't know why), could manipulate the world around her. She could even use the towers to help her father on the real world with his work. She even grew to understand how Lyoko worked and functioned.

Funny how a single glitch in the system could change so much. Something happened soon after Elie became a resident of Lyoko. There was something else in Lyoko. Something outside of the programing. When Elie brought it up to her father, he said he didn't detect anything strange and for her to investigate. Maybe it was a virus? Maybe it was something new in the program brought about by the new feature Franz and her father had found. One that let them go back in time on the real world, though time was the same on Lyoko.

Elie went to explore, but found nothing in the forest area. The desert and Arctic areas were the same.

She found it hiding in the mountains. Though Elie wasn't sure what it was exactly, she wanted to befriend the new creature. After all, it was lonely with only XANA for company. The figure looked like a shadowed version of her old self. The child's skin was pale, her hair unkempt and tangled. She looked so frail and delicate, as if a feather could break her. Her yellow eyes were dull and sad. It startled Elie to realize that she had really looked that way, so sick and frail. But what did it mean? Why was this image here?

"Hello." Elie said, smiling at her image. The image said nothing and huddled closer to the near by rocks. It's yellow eyes never left Elie's face. "Are you alright?" Elie tried again, extending her hand to the image. The image's eyes darted to the hand then back to Elie's face in an instant.

Elie turned and looked at XANA, the floating mark that was her sole companion on Lyoko. "What should we do about her?" Elie asked.

"I am not equipped to make such decisions." It told her. Elie nodded and looked back at the young image. The Image's eyes were no longer fixed on Elie, but on XANA.

"Come here." Elie said soothingly, extending her hand again.

The Image sprang forward, slamming into XANA's image. The two flickered and changed. Elie screamed, trying desperately to get hold of her father, to stop whatever was happening. But it was to late. The images stopped their mad flickering, and XANA's mark was the only one left.

"Papa, what was that?" Elie asked. "XANA?"

"It is alright, Elie. It was a fragment of your data. Junk data." XANA told her calmly. "It has been dealt with."

Elie didn't like the way that sounded at all, but her father assured it that everything was alright. Still on edge, Elie asked to be informed if they were going to go back in time again so she could keep on the look out for more 'junk' data.

There were no incidents after that, but XANA began to act differently. It asked strange questions, and it took an interest in Lyoko's towers, even though it lived in a different area called Carthage. Then it started to make monsters on Lyoko and it even tried to use the towers. Elie tried to control XANA, to understand why it was doing this, but all she could do was stay in her tower and keep it from using the towers to spread it's violence to the real world. XANA had become a virus, a rouge AI. She told her father and Franz, but things on their end had gotten dangerous too. Men were after them, but Elie didn't know why.

Then, one day, her father said, "Sarah, I'm bringing you back."

"But I'll die." She said softly. "And someone has to keep XANA in check, right?"

"Don't worry about that. We're shutting the computer down. We have to run."

"But I'll die." She said again.

"No you won't." He said. "Do you remember that Junk Data from a few years ago, your time?"

"Yes."

"That was the 'virus' in your code. What made you sick. We didn't know until recently, Sarah."

"Then... I'm the reason XANA is sick?" She asked, dread weighing her down.

"No. Never think that Pumpkin."

"But it was my code. Why didn't you tell me you were messing with my code?!" Elie demanded, furious.

"I'm sorry, but I thought you wouldn't understand. I had no idea it would end up like this. Just... just stay still for a minuet."

Elie glared at the ground until it vanished, replaced by light and a metal tube who's floor was far closer than it should have been. Elie looked up and around. Even though years had passed for her on Lyoko with the trips back in time, only a year had passed here. And her body hadn't aged at all since she'd first been put on Lyoko the night she'd been dying. The only change was that she was no longer sick.

"Sarah, we have to go!" her father said, picking her up and turning to run.

"Where are Franz and Aelita?" She asked.

"Aelita is on Lyoko. Franz is-" The door behind them burst open and men in black suits flooded the room. Elie's father ran down a hall, then down a flight of stairs. She'd never seen this area of her home before. How had she not known she'd been living in a large factory? Her father stopped in a room with a large computer in it and Elie knew it was the super computer that housed Lyoko.

"What are you-"

"I've got to shut it down." Her father said.

"But what about Franz and Aelita?" Elie asked, eyes wide.

"Don't worry Pumpkin. It'll be alright." Her father pulled a lever and the computer shut down.

There were so many things Elie wanted to ask. Why was Aelita on Lyoko? Why had her father brought her back? Why were they running and who were they running from? Her questioned would go unanswered. As the computer shut down, she fell asleep.

When Elie woke up again, she was on a plane. Her father sat next to her... but she didn't know why there were there. Or anything really. "Papa?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Yes?"

"Where are we?"

"We're on a plane, going to the USA."

"Why...?"

Her father looked puzzled for a moment, then looked away. "Perhaps it's for the best if you don't remember. Dear, do you know what Lyoko is?"

"No... is it a country?" Elie asked.

Her father shook his head. "No. It's nothing. Go back to sleep."

Elie did and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was falling.

Elie screamed and reached out for something, anything. She landed in someone's arms and turned to see a familiar face. Blond hair and purple cat ears and a pair of worried eyes.

"Elie, are you alright?" Odd asked. "Do you know who I am. Say something!"

"Something...?" Elie said, breathless. The flashbacks fell back in her mind, letting things become clear once again. Unlike before, the flashbacks stayed where she could remember them later. There were other things, things she'd learned during her time on Lyoko before, that faded from her knowledge. It was ok, though. Those memories were more than enough.

"Do you know who I am?" Odd asked again.

Elie nodded. "You're Odd. We watch bad movies together. You gave me Jack and Sally plushies on Valentine's day."

She felt Odd relax and looked around. Ulrich Yumi and Aelita were standing guard around them as the Scyphozoa fled.

"Are you ok?" Odd asked.

"Yeah... I think so."

"What happened?" Yumi asked, turning to check on her.

Elie gave her a weary smile. "It's... complicated. But i think you guys need to hear this."


	21. XANA's Curse Part 21: Marabunta

"So... You lived here before?" Yumi asked for the third time. "In the factory." Elie nodded. "And you were put into Lyoko as a child." Once again Elie nodded. "And some how XANA's program change was because of you and your dad?"

"Yes. I feel like there's more to it though. Things I didn't see. Some of it I'm not even sure if i believe. The part with my dad seems right, but..." Elie trailed off, shaking her head.

"But why was I there?" Aelita asked. "You said I took care of you."

"I don't know. I feel like i knew more but... it went away when you saved me."

"You don't feel any different, do you? You don't think XANA took anything like with Yumi or Aelita?" Odd asked. He was still holding her, though he had shifted so she was more comfortable. His arms stayed around her as if he was afraid to let her go.

"I feel fine." She assured him. "XANA doesn't take things from me... not that i know of anyway. Jeremie can scan me just to make sure."

Odd nodded, but didn't let go or relax his grip. Elie was silently grateful for his support. She had a pounding headache and didn't trust herself to walk around just yet.

"I don't get it." Ulrich said, shaking his head. "How is this even possible? Putting aside XANA's change, how could you have spent years on Lyoko and just forgotten them? How did you not age?"

"We don't have actual bodies on Lyoko." Elie reminded him. "That's probably why. As for forgetting... I think it's because the computer shut down." Elie lifted her hand and examined it as if her palm would hold all the answers she needed.

"Maybe." Ulrich said, looking away.

"I still want to know why I was in your memory Elie. If what you saw was true, I was human." Aelita said.

Elie nodded. "I'm not going to take what i saw at face value. XANA showed those images to me for a reason. They could be tampered with, or made up all together. Only time will tell. In the mean time, I'd like to write everything down... just in case I forget it again. It always feels like i know so much more when the Scyphozoa has hold of me."

"Elie, you're not planning to-" Odd started to say, clearly worried.

"Hell no." Elie laughed. "It's tempting I'll admit, but I don't trust what I saw. XANA probably showed me what he did in the hope of upsetting me or distracting me. Trying to find out more is futile if we can't even trust the information." Odd relaxed just a little.

"Either way, Elie, we can't take any more chances like this." Jeremie said. "XANA is up to something. Once my scan is done, I'm bringing you back. I think you should stay off of Lyoko for a while."

"I'm not going to run from him. Besides, you need me to get the data for Aelita's anti-virus from Sector Five, remember?"

"We can manage for now. At least until we know more." Jeremie argued.

Elie glared up at the sky. "I'm not staying behind and that's final. I'll just be more careful from now on. I can Phaze if I see the jellyfish coming."

Jeremie was quiet for a moment then gave in. "Fine. But just be careful. The scan's done and it look like everything's fine. I'm bringing you back."

Elie looked up at Odd who still held her tightly. "You can let go now, you know." She said softly.

Odd let go quickly. "Oh, right. Well, I was just worried that you were still kinda out of it so-"

Elie laughed softly as Jeremie brought her back to the real world.

Her thoughts remained on the memories XANA had showed her. Like any good lie, there were large chunks of truth in the story he'd shown her, but which parts they were Elie didn't know for sure. She was sure the first part, about her life on earth, was true. Her father and Franz were likely real to. It was Aelita's presence and the events that happened on Lyoko that bothered her. Something felt wrong, as if they didn't quite fit into the place where the memory should be.

Elie remembered her father now. His kind face, his dedication to his work, his love for her. After Elie's mother died giving birth to the sickly baby named Sarah, her father had given her the best care in the world. He never hated Sarah for taking the love of his life away, but instead cherished her as the last gift his love could give. Even though Sarah had been sick and rarely left her bed or her home in the factory, she had a good and happy life. Until her illness became to much and she began to die. Elie still wasn't sure why her father had put her onto Lyoko- that bit of knowledge had faded away- but she knew for him it was an act of love, a way to let his daughter continue living in a way that would make her happy.

She felt the grief of his loss bitterly. She hadn't remembered her father before the incident with the Scyphozoa; she'd simply been to young when he'd died. Even now Elie didn't know why he'd died. Maybe he'd been sick? After the plane had brought three year old Sarah and her father to the USA, they lived in the worst part of a large city. It was logically the best place to disappear after all. Maybe he'd been caught up in one of the many many crimes there? It didn't matter anymore. He died, and Elie was left to fend for herself. She wouldn't let her mind go farther down that path though. She just wanted to remember what she could of her father. Like the dark circles under his eyes from working far to hard and not getting enough sleep again. Or the way his brown eyes sparkled when he talked to her about his work, even when she hadn't understood what he was talking about. Her father's large steady hands helping her to sit up so she could breath better, and the way those hands could be so gentile and delicate when he helped her take her medicine or when he was working on his computers. Her father had loved her... and Elie had forgotten him. She mourned him in privet, not wanting her friends to worry. She also mourned the loss of Sarah, the young bright eyed girl who had vanished at the age of three only to give birth to Mouse, and then eventually to Elie. Maybe it was better that Sarah had faded when she had; a girl that pure and bright couldn't have survived what came later in life.

One week passed by, including an incident where Yumi's father lost his job and Ulrich tried to win the lottery for them so they wouldn't have to move back to Tokyo. His actions got him kicked out of the group temporarily, but he was back in within a day. Ulrich had to give the money away since Yumi's parents didn't feel right taking it. Elie solved the problem, though she didn't tell anyone about it. She asked Mr. Simmons to have a word with an associate of his and found Yumi's father a new job so they wouldn't have to move away.

The group ran a few missions to Sector Five but there was no data of interest, and Elie didn't get a chance to try out any of her new found abilities except for Phaze, which was very handy in a fight.

Odd seemed to show up everywhere she went, which she was grateful for. His light hearted jokes and easy way of life helped to distract her from her darker thoughts. It was as if he knew when she was starting to think about what XANA showed her and knew she needed a distraction.

After Science class, an admittedly interesting class on ants, Elie and her friends were eating lunch. Jeremie seemed excited about something but was politely waiting for everyone to finish eating before talking about it.

"Hey Elie, are you alright?" Yumi asked. "You've been kinda out of it since you got attacked."

"I'm fine. It just gave me a lot to think about." She admitted. "Mostly I've been thinking about my dad. It's strange to remember him now. Before I just knew he died when i was little. I didn't even remember his face, but now? Well, it's a lot to think about."

Odd grinned and put his hand on her shoulder. "Dads tend to have that effect on people. Don't worry about it to much. Besides, aren't you always saying that the past is just the past?"

Elie nodded, though she wasn't comforted by his words like she knew he was wanting her to be. "Speaking off, I need to meet Mr. Simmons this afternoon. We've got stuff to take care of."

"What kinds of stuff?" Odd asked.

Elie gave him a 'Don't ask' look and he nodded. "Right."

"What's wrong, Jeremie?" Aelita asked. "You seem bothered by something."

"It's Franz Hopper's notes. I found a bit about a Multi-agent system. It works like an Ant Hill. You see-"

"Oh no you don't." Odd interrupted. "We already got board to death with that lecture on Ants." Yumi, Odd and Ulrich laughed.

"I'm serious guys. I may have found a way to weaken XANA." Jeremie said. "Let's meet at the factory after lunch and I'll explain more."

Aelita stood and shook her head. "Normally I'd love to, but I've got to finish my Italian homework. Sorry Jeremie."

"What about you guys?" Jeremie asked.

"No can do Einstein, I've got to practice for a skateboarding competition." Odd stood up and took his plate to get cleaned.

"Yumi?"

"Sorry, I've got swimming after school. See you later."

"What about you Ulrich?"

"I've got to be somewhere." Ulrich fallowed Yumi with his eyes and Elie had to fight not to roll her eyes at him. Did he really have to be so stupidly jealous all the time? When Jeremie asked where Ulrich had to be, he predictably said "The swimming pool." and left.

"Right then... Sense everyone else has better things to do, I'll deal with it myself." Jeremie said, standing.

"I'd go, but I can't cancel my meeting." Elie said, walking out of the lunch building with Jeremie.

"I know." he said with a sigh.

"I'll keep my phone on if I can." Elie promised. "And maybe I can get out early to help you."

"Thanks."

Elie waved and called Mr. Simmons on her cellphone to let him know she was on her way.

Mr. Simmons' apartment was a small three room area with a main room that included the kitchen, dinning room, and what was probably meant to be the living room, with the bedroom and bathroom behind white doors on the left side of the main room. The walls were an off white that Elie didn't care for, though the walls were mostly covered with maps and papers regarding his current assignment. Namely, Elie and the criminals she took down. Elie had down played the situation to her friends. She was wrapped up in something big. Very big.

"Good to see you." Mr. Simmons said, standing up from a desk covered with paperwork in what should have been the living room.

"Good to see you too. You've been busy." Elie walked over to a map of Atlanta and ran her fingers over a blue string that connected to seven points on the map.

"Yeah. We've been getting so much new information in lately I'm having a hard time keeping up."

"Anything I'd be interested in?" She asked.

"No." Mr. Simmons waved his had dismissively. "Did you pick up our pizza?"

Elie nodded and held up the box. Inside contained an extra large, extra cheesy pizza that was smothered in pepperoni and olives. Mr. Simmons grinned at her and Elie put the pizza on the amazingly empty counter in the kitchen area, then got a slice for herself. Simmons walked over and got one as well.

"So, what did you need to talk about?" he asked.

Elie swallowed the bite she had in her mouth. "My dad." She said softly.

"You said you didn't remember him."

"I don't... well, I didn't. I'm not even sure if he is my dad." Elie sighed. "I had a dream a few nights ago. It's been bothering me, so I called you. I was a little kid, on a plane. My dad, i think, was with me and we were moving to Atlanta. I really doubt there's anything to it, but..." Elie trailed off, not sure what to say now.

"Elie, you're not one to ask for anything on maybes and doubts. There's more to this than you're telling me." Elie hated that Mr. Simmons was so sharp some times, but it was that keen eye for detail that she needed right now.

"The dream just felt right. Like a puzzle piece that clicked into place in my mind. So maybe I don't doubt it as much as I'd like to think." Elie bit into her pizza again.

"So why come to me?" he asked, giving her a smile.

"If i give you a description of the man, can you check records? He'd be in the morgue files. You wouldn't have had anything on him sooner than that I think."

"Why's that?"

"We didn't live there long. I remember that much. Maybe two months?" Elie looked into Mr. Simmons eyes. "Please. It's stupid i know, but... If this man was my papa, I want to know how he died."

Mr. Simmons was quiet for a long moment. Elie's phone vibrated in her pocket. Without breaking eye contact she put her hand in and pressed the ignore button; it was important that he knew how serious she was about this.

"Alright." he said after what felt like an eternity. "I'll see if someone knows the guy. But you know it's going to be low priority, right?"

"Of course. The investigation is much more important. But this is important to me. Thank you."

"You owe me."

"Yeah yeah... how about a box of doughnuts?" Elie said with a slight grin.

The man laughed and finished his slice, then got a second one. "Deal. So, how's school?"

"Fine. I think i actually like it some times." Elie moved a few unwashed cups from the counter and sat on it.

"Really?" Mr. Simmons asked, clearly surprised. "You said it was annoying."

"Yeah well, I've matured a bit." She defended, causing the man to laugh.

"What do you like then?"

"History. And science." Elie said. "Not all of it though. I like the Romans and Greeks. And the Egyptians. And apparently, I like ants."

"Ants?" Mr. Simmons asked, unbelieving.

"Ants." Elie confirmed. "We learned about them today. They have a hive mind. Individually, ants can't do much. But in a group they can thrive. There are even African army ants, called Marabunta, that wage war with other ants."

"You sound excited." Mr. Simmons teased. "Think you'll dedicate your life to studying ants in Africa?"

Elie shuttered. "No way." she stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed. "I want music in my life."

"You're still doing that?" he asked. When Elie nodded he grinned. "I thought it was just a front. You really like it?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty good at it too. Maybe I'll play my stuff for you one day. I couldn't have done it without you after all. You were the one who payed for the lessons, even if it was just to help my cover story."

The man grinned. "Looks like you've settled into life here. I'm glad. HQ was nervous about sending you to a school like this. I like proving them wrong."

Elie grinned back and grabbed a third slice and began to devourer it when her phone went off again.

"Seems like someone needs to get hold of you." Mr. Simmons said. "Go ahead."

Elie nodded and opened her phone, taking a few steps away from Mr. Simmons for privacy. "Hello?"

"Elie, we need you to come to the factory right now. The Marabunta is attacking!" Jeremie was practically screaming in her ear.

"Calm down. I'll be there soon." Elie hung up and sighed. "I have to go."

"Who was that?" Mr. Simmons asked. "He sounded upset."

"That's Jeremie. Apparently our lesson about ants upset him. He's claiming that Marabunta are attacking." She laughed lightly and shook her head. "It's probably fire ants or something. He doesn't go outside much so he might not know the difference. For someone so smart, he can be really stupid, you know?"

"Yeah. Go help your fried calm down. I'll get one of my friends over and we'll get a sketch of the guy you're looking for."

"Thanks. It means a lot to me." Elie said, waving.

"Wait." Elie stopped and Mr. Simmons gave her a small box with three slices of the Pizza. "Share that with your friend."

Elie nodded and left, running for the closest sewer entrance out of sight from Mr. Simmons's apartment, but still on the way to school.

The sight waiting for her on Lyoko was worse than she'd feared. Elie thought the Marabunta was some new monster XANA had created, but instead it was a program Jeremie made to fight XANA's monsters. It did it's job a little to well. Not only was it killing the monsters, but the bubbling black balls were after Aelita because of her virus. Worse still it was attacking all of Lyoko. Jeremie couldn't even shut down the program. With a shutter, Elie remembered what Jeremie said about a Multi-agent system... XANA had started out much like the Marabunta program.

"Elie, any ideas?" Odd asked, shooting his arrows at a cluster that came to close. Near by a Krab and some bloks were joining the fight to protect Aelita.

"Yeah, several." Elie slashed her knives at a few black balls that reached out for her. "Maybe you could fill me in on the monsters that aren't trying to kill us first."

"It's complicated." Odd said.

"XANA is protecting me." Aelita said. "He needs my memories, so he won't risk the Marabunta killing me."

"I wouldn't believe it if i wasn't seeing it." Elie said, slashing at more of the black balls. "Where are the others?"

"Yumi went down just before you got here. Ulrich's sulking in his room." Odd had to eat his words a moment later when Ulrich appeared. Apparently he'd let his sulking go long enough to lend a hand.

"Thanks." Elie had to dodge some of the black balls that tried to grab her. Everything was a target now apparently. "Right... Ideas. Jeremie, these are biased off of the ants, right?"

"Yes."

"Then kill the queen. We have to cut off the signal."

"Elie' that's brilliant!" Jeremie said. "How?"

"You're the computer wiz." She said, having to back up yet again. "Let us know when you've got something. Sooner rather than later, ok?"

Jeremie was silent for a long time. Elie and Odd were forced to give up more ground until a mere two yards was all that stood between Aelita and the destructive black ooze. Elie wished XANA would send more monsters, particularly the very tall Krabs, but no more help came.

"Got it! Odd, I've uploaded your arrow with a virus. If you shoot the orb, the first orb I made, it'll shut down the program." Jeremie said brightly. "it's in the center of the swarm." Elie glared at the writhing black mass. He couldn't have made it easy... could he?

"How will I get there?" Odd asked. The Krab knelt down so Odd could ride it. The monster was willing to sacrifice it's self so Odd could get to the middle. Sadly the loss meant that Elie and Aelita were forced to give up more safe ground as the Krab left.

"Odd!" Elie called. Odd looked back. "Don't die." Odd grinned and gave her a thumbs up, then he was gone and Elie had to focus on defending Aelita. She slashed a the black ooze, but knives had very little effect on the jelly-like Marabunta. She was forced to give up more ground and Elie lifted Aelita to stand on one of the blocks as the area around them shrank to a small five food circle. Only two blocks remained. Aelita stood on one with Elie guarding her. The other block fell to the black swarm and Elie braced herself for the swarm's attack.

Without warning, the black mass froze and vanished. Odd had completed his mission in the nick of time. Elie sighed and sank to her knees. She had been inches away from dying and even on Lyoko it had scared her. "Good work." She said, seeing Odd walk up to her.

"No sweat." Odd grinned, then looked at something behind Elie.

She turned and saw a few of XANA's monsters bowing to them. Stunned, Elie nodded to them as they turned and left. "What was that about?"

"I guess even XANA can help out when things get rough." Aelita said, smiling.

"Don't buy it." Ulrich said. Elie was startled to see him; she thought he'd been killed.

"Ulrich's right. XANA is still our worst enemy." Jeremie reminded them. "Now that the Marabunta is gone, he'll try to take your memory again."

Elie nodded and closed her eyes as Jeremie brought her back to the real world again. "So, what were you sulking about?" Elie asked, smiling at Ulrich wickedly.

"Nothing." He snapped and looked away.

"Really?"

"Yes really now leave it alone." Ulrich turned to leave.

"It wouldn't have anything to do with the pool, would it?" She asked, far to innocently. She was rewarded with Ulrich flinching, then marching forward to get away from her. It had to be embarrassing then. She wouldn't press for now. Besides, she'd hear the gossip soon enough.


	22. XANA's Curse Part 22: Bad Decisions

Three days after the Marabunta incident, Elie still hadn't slept. She was used to going a night or two without sleep, but three was pushing it. She felt the lack of rest bitterly as she glared at her clock. It declared that it was 3:27 AM and Elie groaned. It had read the same time last time she'd looked what felt like hours ago.

She gave up on the notion of sleep and got out of bed. Being tired sucked, especially when sleep seemed determined to elude her. Elie's room seamed cramped and stuffy, even after she opened her window for fresh air. She grew restless and agitated; even her music couldn't relax her. In the end, Elie snuck out of the school and fled to the woods.

It was better once she was outside. The cool night air seamed to dance over her skin. The only sounds were the wind in the trees and the crickets in the grass. This was what she'd needed. She relaxed and simply walked aimlessly around.

Elie's wanderings led her to, of all places the factory. Why had she come here...? Still letting her feet guide her, Elie went to the elevator and went down to the scanner level, then went down one more. It seemed like years since anyone had come here. There was a thick layer of dust on everything and everywhere Elie looked she found cobwebs. But she knew what this place was. She and her father had lived in these halls.

Elie walked deeper into the dust filled halls. To her left was an empty door way. It had once been her father's room and as she looked inside she could still see his bookshelf, now bare of the tomes he was constantly reading. A bit farther down the hall Elie found her play room. On the days she'd been feeling well, her father and Aelita would take her there and play games or work on puzzles. Farther down was the kitchen and living room. Then the dinning room.

Finally, Elie came to her own room. It had seemed so large when she was a child, but the room was a cramped ten by twelve foot area. Her room was almost exactly as she'd remembered it. Her bed even had her favorite blue blanket covered in lambs on it. Next to it her dresser had been cleared out by someone, and the book shelf was empty. Her toy chest stood open and her stuffed animals lay in various stages of decay. When she touched her teddy bear, it's left arm fell off.

Elie was much more careful as she took out the toys. None had survived intact, but a few looked like they could be repaired. She'd come back for them later. The thought surprised her... why did she want to come back for them? They were toys, nothing more. She didn't remember having many after the move, and they had all been lost or taken. Since then, the only toys she'd gotten were the Jack and Sally plushies Odd had given her. She cared about those two because Odd had given them to her... so why did she care about these?

The obvious answer was because her father had given them to her, but until the incident with the Scyphazoa, Elie hadn't even remembered the man's face much less cared about him. What had changed?

For that matter, why did she care so much about the Jack and Sally toys? Yes, Odd had given them to her, but they had been a gift. The first gift she'd ever gotten but that didn't explain it.

"It's because Odd is the one who gave the gift to me." She said out loud without thinking. Even if he'd just gotten her some cheesy flowers or something she didn't even like, it would have still been precious to her because of him.

Elie jumped to her feet, heart pounding. She would not continue that line of thought. In fact, she wasn't going to admit she'd even had that thought or said what she had. It was ridiculous. Stupid even. Thoughts like that were dangerous. It would wind up hurting them both.

Elie remembered the dream she'd had weeks ago. Standing on the stone outcropping and looking down at Odd's smiling face. His hand was outstretched to her, begging her to come away from the edge. Below her was a bottomless pit filled with all the darkest parts of her heart. If she accepted Odd's hand, the darkness would swallow them both. She would never let that happen.

Shaking her head against the realization she was refusing to have, Elie shoved both her thoughts and her dream deep into her mind where she wouldn't have to think about them again.

Gifts were not important. She only cared about those little toys because they were cute. She only cared about Jack and Sally because they were from her favorite movie. That was all.

Turning, Elie marched out of her former room and down the halls until she got to the elevator. Only once she was out of the factory in the fresh air did she stop moving. All of her disturbing thoughts lay in the factory, several floors below her and she did not plan to go back any time soon. Looking up at the sky she saw it was starting to gain a pearl-ish tint. She should get back to the school and take a shower.

Her cellphone rang and Elie answered after seeing that the caller was Aelita. "What's up?"

"Where are you?" Aelita sounded out of breath. "We've been looking everywhere for you and you weren't answering your phone."

"Sorry. I'm on a walk. I guess i lost service for a bit. What's wrong?"

"XANA just activated a tower. Get to the factory."

"Ok. Meet you there." Elie closed her phone and put it back in her pocket. She'd rather not go back in so soon. She'd wait for her friends to get there, then run out of the woods to meet up with them.

After fighting threw an army of Hornets, Elie relaxed against a rock in the forest region. Aelita was safely in the tower and getting ready to deactivate it.

"Alright, I'll start up the return program." Jeremie said.

"Why?" Yumi asked, "XANA didn't even have time to do any damage back on earth."

"You can never be to careful."

"Jeremie, might I remind you that going back in time makes XANA stronger?" Ulrich said.

"Look, I know what I'm doing alright?" Jeremie snapped.

Odd and Elie shared a look before Odd said, "Well if you know, why not explain it to us?"

"Just trust me alright?!"

"Jeremie, that's not the point-" Aelita started to say but Jeremie interrupted her.

"That's my final say on the mater." Then white light filled the room and when Elie opened her eyes it was three in the morning again. She sighed, knowing she still couldn't sleep yet. Instead, she decided to go take an extra long shower to help wash away any of the lingering emotions she felt back at the factory.

"Man, Jeremie's becoming a real pain in the neck." Ulrich said, glaring at his soda. Everyone had met up at the soda machines before school. Everyone but Jeremie that is. He had yet to show up. "He just flies of the handle at every little thing. He's like a time bomb."

"Maybe he's got family problems?" Yumi suggested, grabbing her soda from the machine. Elie put in her money and was trying to decide between root beer and Mr. Pib.

"Or maybe he just realized that he's got a split personality and that when the moon is full he becomes the son of Dr. Shrank capable of grafting animal body parts onto human beings!" Odd cried, trying to use a spooky voice and failing.

"And he now knows that he must face up to a fate worse than death!" Elie chimed in as she turned, root beer in hand.

"You two have been watching Horror at the Hospital again, haven't you?" Ulrich asked, trying not to laugh.

"Of course." Elie said, smirking.

"How could anyone pass up such a fantastic program?"

Ulrich, Yumi and Aelita lifted their cups to Odd's question.

"Well, you can't blame us for your lack of taste." Elie said, leaning on the wall next to Odd. Her comment earned her a chuckle from her friends.

"There he is." Ulrich said, motioning to Jeremie.

"How's life, Einstein?" Odd asked with a grin. Jeremie remained silent.

"Where were you?" Aelita asked. It wasn't like Jeremie to be late.

"In my room. Why is there a law against it?"

Elie was surprised by Jeremie's harsh tone, especially since he was talking with Aelita. He even glared at her!

"Chill. We were just worried." Yumi said, glaring back at Jeremie.

"I'm a big boy now, so just get off my back." Jeremie turned to walk away now that he'd gotten a drink.

Ulrich leaned over and whispered, "You might have something with your Dr. Shrank theory."

"Told ya." Odd said, grinning. "Now, if you'll excuse me I also must face a fate worse than death."

"What's that?" Elie asked, walking out with him.

"Math class."

At lunch, Elie and her friends talked about the growing Jeremie problem. He'd left math class early and then skipped history and gym. Now he was even skipping lunch.

"Gym and lunch I can see, but skipping History really isn't his style." Elie said, poking at her food. She'd eaten a lot at breakfast because of the early morning Lyoko run and didn't have an apatite back yet. In the end she pushed her plate over to a grateful Odd.

"I wonder what's up with him." Ulrich said.

"I don't know but I'm really worried." Aelita stood. "I'm going to go check on him."

"I'll go too." Elie grinned and added "Someone should check his room for animal body parts." This earned a laugh from him and Elie and Aelita left.

"You know, one of these days thing will calm down enough for us to talk about you." Aelita said, laughing softly.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, the Scyphazoa attacking you and the memories it showed, and things like that."

"Oh." Elie shrugged. "I don't see why we should. Soon the super computer is going to shut down and it won't matter anymore, will it?"

"Aren't you curious?"

"Not really. Maybe if I knew for sure that XANA showed me was real I would be. I just want to get your anti-virus. We'll work out the rest from there."

"What if's all real?" Aelita asked.

"Well, if it's all real, then I should be dead, you were a real person and Franz Hopper is your dad. Oh, and I'm the reason XANA became an AI virus. That doesn't seem realistic, does it?"

Aelita and Elie chuckled a bit. "I guess you are right. Besides, there's not any proof, is there? You said you and your father lived at the factory, but no one's found any bedrooms or anything there. Surely we would have found something by now."

Elie nodded, deciding to stay quiet about the rooms she'd found that morning. Besides, they were already at Jeremie's room. Aelita knocked and Elie moved out of the door way. She didn't want him to think Elie came as Aelita's protector. Even if that was exactly what she'd done.

Aelita opened the door. "Jeremie? I brought you some notes on the classes you missed."

"Just put them on the bed." He didn't even look up from his computer.

"Jeremie, if there's anything wrong you know you can talk to me about it, right?" Aelita asked, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"What's up with you guys?" Jeremie barked, turning and glaring at Aelita. "I'm just working. That's all. I've almost found the Anti-virus. Isn't that worth spending some time on?"

"Yes... but you've been acting strange." Aelita said, sounding worried and hurt. "You should take a break from time to time."

"Does XANA take breaks?" Jeremie said, turning back to his computer. "No. So what do you want? For him to take your memory?"

Aelita looked down and turned to leave the room. "Jeremie, I don't want to lose you. And I can hardly recognize you anymore."

"Aelita..." Jeremie's voice was much softer now. For a moment he sounded like himself again. "There's something I need to tell you."

The computer blared out a warning; XANA had just activated a tower with the worst timing Elie had ever heard of.

"There, you see?" Jeremie's voice was back to being hard and angry. "I told you XANA never takes breaks."

Elie sighed and called Yumi to let her know about the attack. She Odd and Ulrich were still in the lunchroom. They were on their way, so Odd Aelita and Elie left too.

The tower was in the mountain area and was guarded by a small army of Kankrulats. It wasn't much of a problem. Elie distracted them wile Yumi used her telekinesis to clear a path with a large rock. Odd and Ulrich had apparently destroyed most of the lunch room when the XANA possessed lunch lady attacked them. It was decided that they should do a return trip to fix it.

Elie and her friends waited at the Soda machine again, waiting for Jeremie. This time, he didn't show up at all. When they went to find him, they found Jeremie passed out on his floor and took him to the infirmary.

"What could have happened?" Elie asked, looking at the still unconscious Jeremie.

"I don't know. Maybe something happened in the last return trip..." Aelita said, pacing back and forth.

"You should go check the factory then." Ulrich said. "I'll go check his room."

Elie nodded. "I'll go with Ulrich."

"Me too." Yumi said, standing. Odd went with Aelita to check out the factory.

Elie Yumi and Ulrich went to Jeremie's room to look for clues.

"Jeremie's still wearing undies with kangaroos." Ulrich held up a pair and laughed. Elie laughed too, but Yumi didn't seem amused. "I'll have to tell him to upgrade to boxers."

Elie found textbooks filled with things she could never hope to understand. She closed them and put them back, then went to see how Yumi was doing with the computer.

"There's a file i can't open." She said, sighing. "Jeremie's got it locked up tight."

"Let me try." Elie said, sitting in the chair Yumi had just left. "Call Aelita. If i don't have it open by the time she gets here, I'm sure she can do it.

A few minuets later, Elie grinned at the open files. Aelita and Odd had just arrived. "The file has videos in it." she announced.

"Play the first one." Yumi said. Elie nodded and clicked.

"Today I decided to keep a video journal, a bit like the one Franz Hopper kept. This way if something happens to me, others will be able to continue my work. My research to find the Anti-virus which will free Aelita from XANA has never been closer to success. And it is thanks to his diary and the data recovered from Sector Five that allowed me to decode part of the diary, that explains how to logarithmically increase your intelligence. I tried it immediately. It's amazing. It's as if my brain suddenly had the processing power of ten computers linked in series."

In the video Jeremie held up a strange head set, which Aelita recognized as a Neuronal head set. Elie had no idea what that was, so she played the last entry, which was from yesterday.

This time Jeremie was wearing the strange headset. "Each time i use the headset, my mental and physical health get worse and worse. But I'm moving so far forward in my research... But I can't stop this close to success."

"Great..." Elie said, sighing and looking up at her friends. "What do we do now?" To make matters worse, the Super Scan let out an alarm signaling XANA's most recent attack.

"I'm going to the factory." Elie said. Odd and Ulrich nodded.

"I'll met you there." Yumi stood and started to walk out the door. "I want to make sure XANA's attack isn't aimed at Jeremie.

Aelita materialized Ulrich Odd and Elie, then joined them. "It's as we feared." Aelita said. "XANA is in control of Jeremie's ambulance."

"Then we'll just have to hurry." Elie said. "Where's the tower?"

"Just ahead. I'm sorry I couldn't get our vehicles. Looks like we'll have to go on foot."

They ran, but soon ran into three tarantulas.

"Don't worry. I've got a plan." Elie said, grinning.

Odd grinned back. "I love it when you say that."

Elie ran forward and Phazed into one of the monsters. Taking control was... Well, it was the strangest feeling Elie had ever had. She didn't control the tarantula with her movements like she'd thought. Instead she controlled it with her mind. Every stray thought made the creature jerk or move in a strange way. She had for focus and focus hard. She turned her monster and shot lasers at it's two companions, leaving a large gap for Odd and the others to get past her. On the down side, two more tarantulas were waiting for them past that and Elie couldn't take on four of them at once. She had her hands full as it was. Her moment of distraction had made the tarantula spin around, shooting randomly.

None of her friends got hurt, but she had to make herself focus on the fight in front of her. She stood on her two hind legs and marched forward, aiming her shots at the XANA marks on the monster's heads. One went down, but the second dodged and attacked her instead. At least it didn't hurt when the monster she controlled got hit. Behind her, Ulrich got devirtualized and in her moment of distraction, Elie's tarantula got shot again and vanished. Elie fell to the ground and ran from her attacker. "Hurry!" Elie yelled.

Ulrich's voice spoke up. "Elie's right. Yumi and Jeremie have gone for a dip at the bottom of the river!"

Elie dodged more lasers and tried to draw the attention of the tarantula that was attacking Odd and Aelita. Her attempts failed and Odd paid the price. At least his sacrifice had gotten Aelita to the tower. Then they went back in time again. It wast the only way to save Yumi and Jeremie from their watery prison.

Jeremie was late to the soda machines again, so the group went to check on him. In his room, Jeremie was destroying the head set.

"I checked the calculations I've made the past few weeks; most of them were wrong." He said, sighing.

"So you were destroying your health for nothing...?" Elie asked, worried.

"Yeah..."

"It's alright. I'm just glad to see you back to your old self." Aelita said and put her hand on Jeremie's shoulder. He smiled shyly up at her.

"Yeah, you were starting to act like Dr. Shrank." Elie teased.

"Or worse..." Odd put in, glancing over at Ulrich.

"Hey! I am not grouchy!" He defended.

"Yeah right!" Jeremie said, earning a laugh from the entire group.

"There's just one thing I don't get." Elie said once everyone had quieted down. "Franz never got sick or anything, and he did that for years. Well, technically it was only a few days, but you know what I mean."

"I don't know, Elie. It seems like more proof that XANA was just tricking you." Jeremie said.

Elie nodded, thinking back to the room under the factory. XANA hadn't just been tricking her. There was truth in what he showed... but it seemed like less and less of what he'd shown her had been true. "You're right." Elie relaxed against the wall and smiled at her friends. "It doesn't matter ether way. Soon, we'll have the Antivirus and then we can shut the computer down for good.


	23. XANA's Curse Part 23: XANA's Kiss

"Good work guys. A couple more visits to Sector Five like that and I'll have everything I need for the antivirus." Jeremie said, climbing up the later to the school.

Aelita fallowed him out fallowed by Odd Ulrich and Yumi. Elie brought up the rear. Above her, Ulrich helped Yumi climb out of the man hole.

"Thanks. I'll see you guys later." Yumi waved, then smiled at Ulrich. "See you later." Her voice had dropped to a softer tone as she said it. Ulrich blushed very faintly as Yumi ran off.

"What on earth are you waiting for?" Elie demanded, climbing out of the man hole.

"Um... what?" Ulrich looked surprised.

Odd knocked on his head, laughing lightly. "Hello, earth to Ulrich!"

"What are you waiting for anyway?" Jeremie said

"They're right you know." Aelita said a bit sympathetically. "You really should just go for it."

"Like... right now?" Ulrich said, looking back in the direction Yumi left in.

"No, wait for her to start dating someone else because she's sick of waiting for you to make a move." Odd shook his head as if to say 'what a shame'.

"What if Jim notices I'm missing?"

"We'll cover for you Ulrich, now get moving." Elie gave him a light shove in the right direction. Ulrich hesitated for only a minuet more then ran off.

Jeremie and Aelita turned to look at Odd and Elie. "You two need to follow your own advice." Aelita smiled wickedly at them and winked before she and Jeremie walked back to the school. Elie noticed they were moving a bit faster than normal.

Elie's heart raced with panic. All of those feelings she was very carefully not feeling threatened to break free from the tightly locked place in her mind. Odd was looking at her... she had to say something, act natural... She couldn't let him know she was panicking.

"What are they talking about?" Elie asked, feinting casual ignorance. "We're just friends, right?" She grinned at him, praying that the tight pain in her chest didn't show on her face. It was better this way. Maybe if Elie said it enough it would actually be true...

Odd stood still for a heartbeat and Elie was reminded yet again of her dream. Standing on an outcropping of stone, Odd's hand held out to her. He offered her peace, calm, light... below her swirled all of her darkest memories and emotions. She wouldn't taint his light with her shadows; Elie stepped back off of the ledge and fell. The thought reinforced her desire to remain simple friends. It was a line she didn't dare cross.

Odd was still looking at her, so she put her arms behind her and looked up at the sky, "Let's head back. I want to know how it goes with Ulrich and Yumi." Elie turned and started walking to the school, but Odd grabbed her arm and made her turn to face him.

"No." Odd was being very serious and looked into her eyes.

Elie's heart raced and she wanted to relax, to give in and let this happen. She wanted it so badly... "No what?" Her voice didn't give her away. It still sounded slightly confused and dismissive. "You don't want to go in yet? Jim might catch us you know."

"I don't care if he does. Elie, I don't want to just be friends."

"So.. best friends?" Her voice faltered, and her grin fell into a nervous expression. His words made her heart dance with joy. She didn't know how or why, but Odd cared for her. But that joy, that knowledge, just made what she had to do even harder.

"No Elie. I like you. I... I want you to be my girlfriend." Odd's eyes never faltered and Elie braced herself...

"Sorry, but I don't feel that way about you." Elie said, pulling her arm away. "We're just friends." She saw her own shattering heart reflected in Odd's eyes and every fiber of her being wanted to rush forward and hold him close, to tell him she didn't mean it and that she was just scared. Scared of hurting him, scared of being hurt, scared of opening up... "I'm sorry Odd. We can still be friends, right?" She gave him a small hopeful smile.

Odd nodded slowly. "Yeah.. yeah we can."

The defeat, the loneliness, the sorrow in Odd's voice tore Elie's heart apart, but she didn't dare let it show. This was for the best after all... she'd only hurt him worse if she gave in to her feelings now. "So.. I'm going to stay out here for a bit."

"Ok." Odd said, turning away from her. "I'm going in."

Elie watched him leave. She wanted to go after him and even ran forward three steps before forcing herself to stop. She couldn't go after him, she couldn't let him see she was upset, she couldn't... she couldn't.

Elie couldn't hold her emotions back anymore, she turned and ran into the woods, stopping when she could no longer see the school's lights. She wanted to scream, but that would have drawn to much attention. instead, Elie fell to her knees and punched the ground to vent her sorrow and frustration.

When she finally stopped her hands were coated in dirt and grass and the ground in front of her was torn to bits. It looked like she'd clawed at the dirt in places and a quick check of her nails confirmed it. She was still shaking, but less so now. Dimly she wondered if Odd hurt as much as she did, though dismissed the thought quickly; even if he did it would have hurt worse later.

When she had calmed down enough, Elie went back to the school. Her mind was racing in to many directions to try and sleep, so she decided to work on her music. Her plans were delayed when she found Aelita waiting in her room.

"How did it go?" Aelita asked.

Elie just gave her a confused look, wishing Aelita would go away. She really didn't want to talk about it...

"Don't give me that look." Aelita said with a small smirk. "What did Odd say?"

"Well, he likes me apparently." Elie shrugged and took of her hoddie, then moved to her shoes and socks.

"Duh. How'd he say it? What did you do?" Aelita leaned forward for details.

"Just that. He likes me. I told him I didn't feel the same way. We're just friends." Elie tossed her shoes gently to the other side of the room.

"What? Why?" Aelita moved back, clearly surprised.

"Because it's true?" Elie looked up at her pink haired friend with one eyebrow lifted.

"No way. You always look at him when you think no one's looking, and what about your movie nights?"

"Don't friends watch movies together?" Elie asked, taking her socks off. "And if I look at him some times it's to see if I've gotten taller than him yet. Honestly, I'm the shortest kid in our grade. Pretty soon Milly and Tamiya will be taller than me!"

Aelita shook her head sadly. "But.. Odd likes you Elie. A lot. Why not give it a try? You might find out you care about him too."

"That wouldn't be fair to Odd." Elie said dismissively, letting Aelita think she only meant it wouldn't be fair to date someone she didn't like in that way. "I'm tired. See you in the morning?"

"I... I guess." Aelita stood and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

Elie sighed deeply and relaxed, glad to be alone. She changed into her PJs, whipping her hands off on her dirty shirt, then sat down at her computer to work. In a few hours, once everyone was sleeping and Jim went to get a nap, she'd go shower and try to forget the whole stupid night. Despite her best efforts, she kept seeing Odd any time her mind wandered from her music. The words 'I like you' filled her head.

The next morning Elie went to breakfast early.

"Hey Elie." Someone said as she opened the door.

Elie looked down to see a girl with short blond hair. Elie and the girl had a few classes together, but it took a moment to remember the girl's name. "Hi Heidi." The two girls had never spoken before, and Elie had no idea why today was any different.

"Have you seen Odd? He said he'd have breakfast with me today." Heidi smiled and Elie's heart squeezed painfully. That hadn't taken long... Odd had already moved on. He must have asked her last night after Elie had rejected him in the woods.

"Not this morning. Sorry." Elie motioned to Jeremie who was walking up to them. "Maybe he has?"

Heidi turned and started to ask Jeremie the same thing she'd asked Elie, but was interrupted when Jeremie pulled her close to him and kissed her.

Elie was to surprised to move until Odd and Ulrich walked up and Jeremie ran off.

"I.. I can't believe that just happened." Elie said, looking at Odd and Ulrich.

"You're not alone..." Odd said, looking out to the woods where Jeremie had vanished. As the shock faded, anger took it's place. "I can't believe he just did that!"

"Heidi, I think you should reschedule your date." Elie said, looking at Odd's angry face. She hated seeing it...

"Yeah. I think you're right." Heidi waved. "I'll, um... I'll see you later Odd." Then she left, leaving Elie and Ulrich alone to calm a fuming Odd. In the end, it seemed like Elie was just making things worse, so Ulrich asked her to leave too.

Rather than go eat, Elie went to find Jeremie. She had a few questions to ask him. Heidi apparently had the same idea. She was waiting for Jeremie when he and Aelita came out of the dorm building.

"Jeremie!" Heidi stepped into his path. "Would you mind explaining why you kissed me in front of Odd?" She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

"What are you talking about?" Jeremie asked. "Are you out of your mind?" Heidi glared at him for a moment longer, then turned and marched away. Aelita looked at Jeremie, then walked quickly away from him.

"Aelita, wait!" Jeremie tried to fallow but Elie glared at him, making him freeze.

Turning to join Aelita, Elie put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Are you ok?"

"I... I don't know. I can't believe he would do that..."

"I know." Elie said, sighing. "But I saw it myself." Aelita stayed silent, so Elie took her to the lunchroom. Odd and Ulrich were already there, so Elie and Aelita sat with them. A moment later when Jeremie tried to sit with them, the group shut him out.

"Hey guys." Jeremie said. "Wanna scoot over and make some room?"

"Don't you want to go sit with Heidi?" Odd asked, glaring. "She's all alone over there."

Jeremie moved around Elie and Aelita and sat. "Look guys, I don't know what all this is about but I swear that I-"

Aelita stood and walked out of the room. Odd watched her leave, then turned on Jeremie. "You know, you threw me a real curve ball Mr. Romantic." Odd stood and left, fallowed by Ulrich.

"Elie, i swear, I didn't kiss her!" Jeremie said desperately.

"Jeremie, I saw you do it. Odd and Ulrich too. I can't believe you'd do that to Aelita."

"But i didn't!" He insisted. "You just said you couldn't believe it, so don't. Please..." Jeremie sounded defeated and he put his head in his hands.

Elie sighed and stood. "I wish you didn't sound so sincere." she admitted. "But if you didn't kiss her, what happened?" Elie didn't give him time to answer as she fallowed Odd and Ulrich out.

"In case you didn't hear..." William was talking to Ulrich, sounding mystified. "Yumi's dating Matthias Durel."

"What?!" Ulrich looked up at William with wide eyes. As if her name summoned her, Yumi joined the group with a cheery "Good morning everyone." Ulrich hesitated and asked. "So.. you really like Durel, do you?"

"He's ok. Why?" Yumi asked.

"How does he kiss?" William asked, trying not to sound bitter and failing.

"Kiss?" Yumi asked, almost laughing at the idea. "How would I know? Why, do you like him William?"

"Cut the acting will you?" Ulrich snapped. "William saw you kissing him by the vending machines!" William nodded, then glared at Yumi and stormed away. Ulrich fallowed and soon only Yumi and Elie were left.

"What just happened...?" Yumi asked. Jeremie walked out of the lunchroom and sighed. Yumi turned to him and said, still confused. "Apparently I'm dating Matthias Durel."

Jeremie almost smiled. "No kidding? Rumor has it that I kissed Heidi Klinger."

Elie just shook her head. Why was there always so much drama going on around them...? She had lost her appetite after seeing Odd get so upset about Heidi so she started walking to math class, Yumi and Jeremie fallowing a bit behind her.

Turning the corner Elie was greeted by the sight of Ulrich kissing Sissi. She froze and behind her she heard Yumi and Jeremie do the same as the gawked at the strange sight. Was Ulrich trying to get back at Yumi...? Even if he was, surely he wouldn't stoop so low as to kiss Sissi... right?

Ulrich ran off and Sissi walked over grinning like a fool. "What's the matter Yumi?" She asked sweetly. "Is everything ok?"

Yumi glared and before she could say anything Elie spoke up. "Must be a dream come true Sissi. To bad about that Mono, though. Maybe you should get tested?" Sissi's expression dropped and Elie smirked as she turned and ran. Now they were even for Sissi's letter a few weeks back. Elie wasn't one to get mad, she just got even.

"Thanks for that, Elie." Yumi said. Elie just shrugged and kept walking.

In class, things were no better. Elie was sitting in front of Jeremie and Ulrich when Odd and Aelita walked in. When Jeremie asked to talk to Aelita, she just brushed him off saying 'We're in class' and sitting a few seats away. Odd wouldn't even come to the same side of the room as Jeremie.

"Why did you kiss Heidi anyway?" Ulrich asked softly as the class started.

"I did not kiss Heidi." Jeremie insisted.

Ulrich narrowed his eyes at Jeremie. "I saw you."

"What about you?" Jeremie shot back. "Kissing Sissi to get back at Yumi? That's low."

"What?! I did not kiss Sissi!"

"I saw you." Jeremie turned to glare at Ulrich. Elie turned and said. "Say what you will. I saw both kisses." Then turned back around to focus on her school work. What was wrong with everyone? Had they all gone crazy or something?

After class, things got even worse. As Elie and Jeremie were walking out of class, Aelita stood waiting. She locked eyes with Jeremie, then pulled Nickolas into a quick but deep kiss that left Nickolas grinning like a fool. Jeremie and Elie exchanged a look, then Jeremie ran after Aelita to demand answers. Elie sighed and walked so a secluded portion of the wall and leaned against it. When she looked up, Odd was glaring at her.

"What, did i kiss someone too?" she sounded way more defensive than she'd meant to.

"Yeah, you did." Odd said. "Is that why you said no last night? You've had a crush on William this whole time?"

"Excuse me...?" Elie said, fighting not to laugh. "I think he's lame, remember?"

"Then why'd you kiss him?"

Elie stood up a bit straighter. "I've been in class. You left before me. I haven't had time to go kiss anyone. And no, Odd, that's not why I said no. I don't like William. I can't even stand being around him for long. Besides, you don't seem to torn up about last night. How long did it take before you asked Heidi out? Five, no ten, minuets?" She glared, not realizing that she sounded hurt when she said it.

Odd snorted. "Oh please! Don't try to act upset now. You didn't even care that i got hurt did you?"

Elie flinched and looked away. This conversation was going dangerous places. "Just piss off Odd. You're the one going on a date the morning after you confessed to me." Elie marched forward, passing Odd and going for the woods. She was just going to skip her next class. This day had gone down the shitter anyway.

Just when she was starting to relax having found a lovely shady spot under an old tree, her phone rang. "What is it Jeremie?" She asked. He told her XANA was attacking and to meet the group at the man hole in the park. Elie sighed and went to meet them. Odd was still looking pissed and Yumi and Ulrich weren't even looking at each other. Aelita was nowhere to be found. Elie joined the silent group and waited.

Jeremie didn't keep them long. He ran up panting and said, "I can explain what's going on." Without preamble. "This is another one of XANA's schemes that-"

"That doesn't make any sense." Odd said, still not looking at Jeremie. "XANA can't posses us."

"I know that. I also know that I didn't kiss Heidi, so there must be a Jeremie Clone walking around somewhere."

"And a Yumi clone." Yumi said, smiling softy at Ulrich.

"And an Ulrich clone."

"And an Elie clone too." Odd said, glancing at Elie, who nodded.

"Or it could be just one clone that can change shape." Jeremie said. "XANA's getting more powerful, so it's not impossible."

"I guess we know what XANA's plan is then." Elie said with a sigh. "To cause chaos in the group. To divide and conquer. He's getting smarter."

"I guess Odd was right. Jealousy makes people crazy." Jeremie smiled and Yumi smiled too.

"Well, we can just go to Lyoko to solve this. So where's Aelita?" Odd asked, looking around.

Jeremie looked down. "Gone.. and it's my fault."

"Well, where did she go?" Yumi asked.

"The Hermitage." Elie said softly. "She always goes there when she's upset."

Jeremie nodded. "Then let's go get her. Besides, I need to apologize to her."

At the Hermitage, Aelita was standing with Jeremie. Elie looked at the Jeremie they'd been running with and rolled her eyes. Of course this couldn't just be easy...

"Aelita, he's a clone, get away from him." Jeremie said. The other Jeremie pulled Aelita behind him. "You're not going to trust that clone, are you?" "Aelita, it's me. I'm the real Jeremie." "No, I am." the two went back and forth, and Elie made sure to keep an eye on the Jeremie she and the others had come here with. She was pretty sure that one was the real Jeremie.

"Aelita, you know it's me. I kissed you." The other Jeremie said. Aelita pulled away. "That's right you did... Jeremie wouldn't have kissed me like that." Elie pulled Aelita behind her as Ulrich Odd and Yumi tackled the Clone, causing it to dissipate for a moment.

"You guys go. I'll take care of this thing." Elie said, getting into position. Jeremie and Aelita nodded. Only Odd hesitated as they left. Soon she was alone with the clone who kept shifting between people. First it was the science teacher Mrs. Hertz, then the history teacher, then Jim. It seemed to settle on that form, then attacked.

Elie dodged and kicked, then jumped back to get a bit of breathing room. All she really wanted to do was give Aelita time to deactivate the tower; there was no way Elie could win this fight and she knew it. The clones were simply to strong. Not to mention the electricity they controlled. The clone attacked and Elie dodged again, this time grabbing a rock in each hand as she rolled and stood. She threw the first at it's chest and the second at it's head. Not surprisingly, the rocks sailed through harmlessly and the clone advanced. They continued the cat and mouse game until the clone started to use it's purple lighting.

The shocks that rocked Elie's body left her gasping and each time it attacked her, it took longer for Elie to recover and get back into the fight. As she was struggling back to her feet, the clone picked her up and turned up the juice... then stopped. The clone dropped Elie and faded away. Aelita must have gotten to the tower and just in time too.

Once she could move again, Elie made her way to the school. Classes were over by the time she got there, so she went to her room, wanting to sleep after the fight. She was a good fighter, but anyone would be worn out after fighting a clone and getting shocked half to death.

Her rest sadly wouldn't come. Waiting outside of her door was none other than William.

"What do you want?" She asked, trying to reach past him to open her door.

"Why did you kiss me?" He asked, blocking her path.

Elie looked up at him confused. She hadn't kissed William! Then she remembered the fight she'd had with Odd. The clone, disguised as Elie, had kissed him.

"Why not?" She said dismissively and went for her door again.

"That's not a reason, Elie." William grabbed her hand and looked down at her.

Elie looked up to meet his eyes, trying to ignore that it was a long way up for her; she barely came up to his chest after all. How had the clone managed to kiss him with that height difference anyway? "What, worried Yumi will find out? She already knows and doesn't care. Now, can I please go to my room?" She yanked her hand away from him and took a step back. If he tried to grab her again he was going to get hurt.

"No. Now tell me why you kissed me."

Elie rolled her eyes. "I was half a sleep and thought you were someone else, now leave me alone, ok?" Elie went for her door again and this time when William tried to stop her she elbowed him in the stomach. As he fell, she slipped past him and got into her room, then locked the door behind her. William banged on her door for a moment, then left her alone. Now she could sleep...

A knock on her door woke her up just as she was starting to drift into dreams. "Go away William!" Elie called, glaring at her door.

"It's not William. It's me, Odd."

Elie froze for half a second, then stood to open the door. "What's up?"

"I wanted to talk. About what happened today." Elie nodded and let him in. Odd sat in the computer chair and sighed. "I'm sorry I got so upset about William."

"It's fine. XANA tricked you. It's whatever." Elie shrugged and sat on her bed, propping up her pillows to lean against.

"No, it's not. I was being a jerk. Forgive me?"

Elie nodded. "Yeah. I forgive you for the whole William thing."

"But...?" Odd asked, hearing the unspoken word at the end of Elie's sentence.

"I don't forgive you for the Heidi thing." Elie hated herself for saying it. She'd meant to say 'you still owe me' or 'I think Yumi's going to kill me' or something like that. She hadn't meant to actually tell the truth.

"What...? Why? You said you didn't like me."

Elie hesitated, trying to salvage the conversation. "No girl likes to see a guy go for another girl the day after he claimed to like her." Elie waved her hand dismissively. "Bad for my reputation and what not."

Odd was quiet for a long time, studying her face. "You're lying."

Elie laughed. "Odd, I'm a damned good lair. Even if I was, there's no way you could tell."

"Oh yea?" he asked, grinning. "I'll bet I can tell."

"Deal. If i win and you can't tell I'm lying, you're buying the snacks for our movie nights for a month."

Odd grinned back. "Fine, but when I win, I get one favor from you."

Elie nodded and the two shook on it. "I'm going to say three things. one will be a lie. Tell me which one it is and you win. Just to be fair, I'll write them down first." Elie took out a piece of paper and wrote down three sentences with a T or F next to them, depending on if they were True of False.

"My favorite animal is a cat. My favorite color is purple. My favorite class is Music." Elie said and leaned back to wait.

Odd thought about it for a second and smiled. "The lie is that your favorite color is Purple."

Elie looked at him shocked. No one could ever tell when she was lying, so how could he? "You're... right. How did you know?"

"Because I know you. You love going to music class. It's the only one you go to every day you can. At first I thought it might have been the cat one because of Kiwi, but you said you loved all animals, dogs were just high up on the list. You would have said if Dogs were your favorite." He grinned and added slyly. "Besides, you told me your favorite color is Blue."

Elie laughed softly, shaking her head. "Damn... You're the only person who's ever gotten it right, you know. I do like purple, it's just not my favorite, for the record. It's my third behind blue and black."

Odd nodded. "Ok. So, my favor. I'm calling it in now. I want you to tell me the truth about why you were upset about Heidi. The whole truth."

Elie looked down and away from Odd. Why did he have to ask that?! He could have asked anything else, asked her to do anything... "It's complicated."

"We've got time." Odd said, waiting.


	24. XANA's Curse Part 24: Being Honest

Elie watched Odd, trying to gauge how much she could tell him and how good at detecting her lies he really was. What she'd chosen in their bet could have been guessed, but would he be able to tell if she lied about other things? Things he wouldn't be able to guess because he knew her?

"Well..." Elie said hesitantly. "First, tell me one thing. Do you really like Heidi?"

"I might. I don't know yet. You know I've dated just about every girl in school. I'm looking for love, you know?"

"I see. Is that why you asked me out? I was just another girl, right?" She smiled, hopping that was true.

"No, it's not. You're different Elie. Now, back to you."

"Right." Elie looked to the side and saw the two small Jack and Sally dolls sitting on her night stand. "I was hurt by it. When you asked Heidi out so soon after asking me out, I thought... I don't know what I thought."

"Lie." Odd said simply.

Elie snorted. "Yeah, it is. But I'm lying to myself, not to you Odd."

"Well, I think we both deserve the truth, don't you?" Elie looked into Odd's kind eyes. He was worried about her, and worried about what she was going to say.

Elie was quiet for a long time, trying to sort out her own emotions. "This is... it's hard for me to talk about Odd. I'm trying, but it's going to take some time."

"Then I'll wait." He said simply. Elie nodded and closed her eyes, choosing her words carefully. There was no way they were going to both get out of this conversation unhurt, especially since Odd could tell when she was lying to him, but she wanted to make the hurt minimal.

"I was upset about Heidi because when you asked me out in the woods last night, you seemed serious. I thought you actually cared. Stupid, i know, but still..."

"It's not stupid, Elie." Odd said, standing quickly and closing the gap between them. "I do care about you Elie. I have for a while now. But you said you didn't feel the same way."

"Then why did you ask her out?" Elie looked up at Odd's face, only a few inches from her own.

"She was a rebound girl, alright?" Odd moved away and made a frustrated sound as he turned his back to her.

"Oh." Elie said, looking away.

"Yeah."

The two remained like that for a moment before Elie spoke. "I lied last night." The words shocked her; she hadn't meant to speak, but the words were out now. It was to late to lie anymore. She was sick of lying to Odd anyway. "When I said I just wanted to be friends."

Odd turned and stared at her. "Why did you lie about that?" His voice was soft, vulnerable even.

"I'm scared." Elie pulled her knees up to her chest and held her legs tightly. "I... I'm damaged goods, Odd."

"Don't you ever say that again!" Odd was at her side in an instant, holding her tightly. "You're not damaged, Elie. You're perfect the way you are."

Elie's shoulders shook very lightly at his words. "Don't be stupid. Of course I'm damaged Odd. Saying otherwise wouldn't change it. I'm in witness protection, remember? I've got some crazy connection to XANA, and I've got criminal connections. And that's only the things you know. The rest... I doubt you'd still say that if you knew the rest."

"Then tell me the rest and let me decide for myself."

"I can't. It's classified, remember?" Elie looked into Odd's eyes, not trying to hide her swirling emotions or heartache.

"There's nothing you can tell me?" He asked softly.

"No. Maybe... maybe one day, but-"

"Then I'll wait for that one day. But I want to wait by your side."

"Odd, I can't... I'll just hurt you."

"So? I'm a big boy Elie. I'll decide if it's worth it or not. Besides, whatever you did, I'm sure I can learn to deal with."

Elie's throat tightened up and her voice failed her. Odd's presence, his gentile encouragement and confidence, warmed a place in her she didn't think could ever feel again. She should have pushed him away, should have told him no, it wouldn't work and that he had to leave. Instead, Elie just sat there, letting Odd hold her like she was something precious. Her head bobbed once, only a brief acknowledgement, but it was enough. She felt Odd's smile.

"Good." Odd's fingers slid under her chin and gently lifted her face. He kissed her softly on the forehead, then smiled down at her. "Why are you crying?" his and moved to wipe her tears away.

"I'm not crying." Elie said, unaware of the fact. "I never cry." Odd held up his damp fingers for her inspection and Elie looked away. "That could have come from anywhere." She was not going to admit to crying.

Odd chuckled softly. "Whatever you say Elie. Want to watch a movie?" When Elie nodded, Odd stood and opened the drawer under her bed that held her DVDs and snacks. He tossed her the snacks, but didn't show her what movie he was going to put in. Once he got the movie started, Odd sat back on the bed and put his arm around her. Elie hesitated before leaning against him.

Much to her delight, Nightmare Before Christmas started playing and she smiled up at Odd with one of her rare bright and happy smiles. She had to resist singing along with the songs, though when she caught herself humming along, Odd didn't seem annoyed. He actually seemed amused by it.

When the movie ended, Elie turned to Odd and asked. "What did you think?"

"It was cool. Not what I normally watch, but I liked it."

Elie laughed very softly. "I'm glad. 'Cus I watch that movie all the time. I'm a huge Tim Burton fan, though I've only seen a few of his movies. I want to watch more, but I can't find them yet."

"I'll help you. I'm sure I can find them."

Elie smiled up at him, then noticed her clock's reflection on her computer screen. "Shit!" She jumped up, and turned. "We're late for dinner. The meatballs are all going to be gone!"

Odd's eyes got wide for a second, then the two ran out of the room and raced to the lunchroom. Elie barely remembered to lock her door on the way out.

She and Odd got the last meatballs and grinned at each other as they joined Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich and Jeremie at the table. "Where have you been?" Ulrich asked. "You're never late for a meal Odd."

"We were watching a movie." Odd said, digging into his food.

"Oh yeah? What was it this time? Malibu Shark Attack 6?"

"No. The Nightmare Before Christmas." Odd said, earning stairs from the group.

"What?" Elie asked, glad that she didn't blush.

"Was it a date?" Aelita asked wickedly, smiling at Odd and Elie.

"What if it was?" She said coolly.

Aelita's grin grew. "I'm so happy for you guys! Congratulations." Yumi nodded and pat Elie on the back while Ulrich grinned and teased Odd.

"Hell, you'd think we got married." Elie said, rolling her eyes. That earn a laugh from the whole group until William showed up.

"Hey Elie." he said, putting his arm on the back of her chair and leaning down. "We still need to talk about what happened yesterday. The mood died instantly as Elie looked up at him, waiting. "You can't just kiss a guy and say it was nothing."

"I can't?" she asked, shrugging. "I already did."

"Hey, don't ignore me!" William grabbed Elie's shoulder and turned her to look at him, and Elie grabbed his wrist and dug her thumb nail into his wrist forcing him to let go. "Don't touch me." she said, glaring up at him.

Then Odd was there, shoving William away and standing protectively over her. Elie was so baffled by the sight she missed the next thing William said. "William, go get a life and get over it. You're making yourself look like an ass." Elie grabbed Odd's hand and pulled him closer to her. "Look, sorry about kissing you. No one's making a big deal about it but you. Don't you think that means you should drop it?"

William looked at Elie's hand in Odd and laughed bitterly. "So kiss a guy and date another the next day? You know what, Elie, you're really not the kind of girl i thought you were."

"Duh. Now shoo." Elie waved her hand dismissively and William turned and walked away. "Sorry about that guys." Elie said, turning back to her friends. "The clone kissed William disguised as me and he won't drop it. I hope you guys don't run into a similar issue too."

"It'll be alright." Yumi said. "Sorry he was being such an ass."

"It's alright." Elie pulled on Odd's arm again, trying to make him sit down. He did, and the conversation turned to homework and how much everyone was looking forward to tomorrow. It was Sunday, a day without school. Elie planned to try sleeping in, and it seemed like she wasn't the only one Jeremie was going to go to the factory to work on the Anti-virus with Aelita. Yumi didn't have any plans, but figured she'd meet up with Ulrich Odd and Elie after they woke up from hibernation.

Elie's plan to sleep in failed. She had barely slept at all that night. Something was bothering her, but she couldn't tell what it was. Sighing, Elie went to take a shower and get ready for the day. Odd was probably still sleeping, but maybe Jeremie was up.

"Jeremie?" Elie knocked on his door. Silence. "Jeremie?" She knocked again a bit louder. Maybe he'd already left...? Just to see, she turned his door knob. It was unlocked. Inside, Jeremie's room was a mess. Papers were strewn everywhere and things were knocked over. There could be only one person responsible for this. XANA. Elie turned and banged on Odd and Ulrich's door. They were gone too, and their room was in the same condition as Jeremie's.

Cursing, Elie pulled out her cellphone and called Yumi as she ran to Aelita's room. Someone answered. "Yumi, are you there?" Silence. "Yumi?!"

"Hello, Mouse." Elie froze, chills crawling up her spine. She knew that voice all to well.

"Shade..."

((Sorry for it being short, but the next chapter will make up for it ;) ))


	25. XANA's Curse Part 25: Revenge

Elie closed her eyes. They had found her. After everything she'd done, they had still found her. "What do you want, Shade?"

"Why, the same thing I've always wanted, Mouse." The man on the phone said sweetly. "You're head on a platter."

"Sorry. Not happening. Anything else I can do for you?" Elie slipped into her room and locked the door.

"She learned to bite!" Shade said with mock surprise. "Little Mouse, when did that happen?"

"Hm..." Elie pretended to think about it while her mind scrambled. Shade had Yumi's phone. Presumably, he had Yumi too. Probably her other friends as well. How had he found her? "I guess about the time I turned on you."

Shade laughed darkly. "You've gotten much more interesting, Mouse. I wonder if your friends find you interesting too?"

"I don't have friends." She said simply.

"Funny. That's not what our information says. I guess we can just kill these kids then."

"Oh please. If you were going to kill them, they'd be dead already. Why'd you bother with some brats anyway? Why not just come get me?"

"Because taking you wouldn't have been fair. We wanted to make you suffer for what you did to us." Shade sighed and paused. Someone was talking to him, though Elie couldn't tell who it was. "I see. That will be all."

"Shade, just cut the crap. Where should I meet you?" Elie leaned on her wall, drumming her fingers on her thigh. The wall or desk would have made to much noise and Shad would know she was scared or plotting, or as the case was, both.

"There's a factory not far from the school. We found one of your friends here. I guess you kids like playing around here, right?"

"I don't have friends." She reminded him. "But I know the place. See you in five." Elie pressed the end call button on her phone and rummaged around her room for the things she'd need and stuffed them into her back pack, then rushed out of the room and down the halls. It was surprisingly empty, given it was a Sunday. People were probably sleeping still.

The lunch room wasn't locked anymore, so she had to sneak around the staff to get the items she needed from there. If she had any hope of rescuing her friends, she was going to need knives, and lots of them. After wrapping the blades in a stolen kitchen towel, Elie shoved them into the bag as well. As she left she could hear one of the workers asking where the knives had gone.

Shade was not waiting outside the factory like Elie had thought, though that ended up being more to her advantage. She stuffed the many pockets of her pants with the things she would need and stuffed knives in just about every place she could on her body. She even had needles stuck in her hair. The knives would show, naturally, but Shade would know Elie wouldn't go down without a fight.

Elie slid down the rope and stopped in front of the elevator. It was closed still and she lifted the metal door to make sure it really was empty. It was, and there were not indications that it had been used recently. Turning, she looked for signs of recent , to the left, Elie found the gate to the stairs open and went down. Two levels down she found them. Her friends were tied up on the left side of a large open room. Around them were a few old gang mates. Razor, Sheila, Brick, a few others she didn't remember. On the other side of the room were more people. At the front of the room, relaxing in an old computer chair, sat Shade.

He was a well aged man who looked to be in his mid thirties, even though he was almost fifty now. His black hair was slicked back as usual and his black business suit was tailored to fit him exactly. He didn't have a tie, which was a shame; Elie could have used that. He was still handsome in a way that was just shy enough of fatherly that most girls flocked to him. He was toying with a gun as he waited and didn't acknowledge Elie for a few moments. He always liked to make people wait.

Elie glanced disinterestedly at her friends, bound and gagged against the wall. They were all there, and as far as Elie could tell they were unharmed. Well, Odd and Ulrich looked a bit beet up, but they'd recover.

"Mouse, it's been to long." Shade's voice drew her attention back to him and Elie crossed her arms over her chest. "Look how much you've grown. I still remember when we first found you. You were just a little thing then, abandoned by your father, living on the streets. And we brought you into our family. And this is how you repay our kindness? You go running off to the cops. Really, we didn't treat you that badly, did we? We gave you a home, fed you, clothed you. Gave you work you were good at."

"Yep. Made me steal things, shoved me into a cramped little room with five other girls, gave me six bits of clothes to wear. Hell, you even gave me two pares of shoes." Elie nodded, smiling sardonically. "Yep. Sure was the life."

"And you would have had so much more if we'd left you on the streets to starve?" Shade asked, leaning forward and pinning her with his eyes.

"Nope. I'd be dead probably."

"Then I'd like to know why you turned on us." Shade's voice was calm and reasonable, but Elie knew better. Under that calm business man's exterior Shade was a crazy cold blooded killer.

"Because you tried to whore me out. I was just a kid, Shade." Elie said, matter-of-factly. "You gave me off to one of your clients and you were going to let him do whatever he wanted to me."

"Well, yes." Shade shrugged. "Not that it worked. After you shot him and ran, things were quite a mess you know. He pulled his support. Couldn't you have at least killed him instead of shooting his arm?"

"I'd never held a gun before." Elie shrugged to. "I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm trying to tell the truth every once in a while."

Shade nodded as if he expected this. Behind her, Elie could hear her friends struggling and crying out. She spared half a second to glare coldly at them, noticing that Odd was the one fighting hardest. The glare silenced him and Elie turned back to Shade. "So, you ended up in charge after Wrex and Flare got taken away?"

"Yep. I should thank you for my promotion, but you gave the cops intel on me too. I barely got away you know."

"Pity. I wish they'd shot you."

Shade nodded and laughed. "I bet you do. But someone else would have come in my place. Someone who wasn't as fond of you as I am."

"How did you find me anyway?" she asked.

"About an hour ago, we got a message. It wasn't even from one of the people we've had looking for you. I happened to be in the city, you see, so we came to find out if it was true. Hiding out in a school. Right in plane sight. I must admit it surprised me. I wouldn't have recognized you, what with your hair and eyes being so different, and the punk style too. I never would have pegged you as a punk, Mouse, but i guess that's what made it so brilliant. Your friend William told us about you though. A golden-eyed girl kissing him in the middle of the school yard. Really, you should have been more careful." Shade shook his head and Elie shrugged.

"My contacts must have slipped. I had hoped to use him, you see. Make him my boyfriend to add to my disguise as a normal kid." Elie waved her hand at Odd and the others. "They were my group of friends so I would blend in more, but you know people like us don't really have friends."

"So true. Clever, Mouse. Very clever. It's a pity we have to kill you. You would be even more useful now than you were before." Shade stood and cracked his knuckles.

Elie shrugged. "Yep. It's a pity I have to die. Just one thing before we get at it. Don't make the kids watch. You'll be killing them soon enough, right? I think they actually cared about me. Maybe I care a bit for them too. I'd rather they not see me die."

Shade grinned. "A last request? Sorry, I'm not feeling that merciful."

Elie nodded and braced herself as Shade lifted his right hand, which had been under the desk, and leveled his gun at her. She waited for the gun to get to the perfect spot... and threw one of her knives at Shade's hand. She was rewarded with a small glint of blood on his hand and the sound of the gun falling to the floor. She didn't have time to watch, though. Elie spun and dodged two baseball bats that hit the floor where she'd been standing a second before. She had a new knife in her left hand and in her right she had a small bottle of syrup. She dumped the content on the ground as she dodged and flipped out of attacking range. She grabbed the next bottle and did the same, then the third and fourth.

Elie's friends were struggling again, but Elie was to far away to give them her little gift. Two men slipped in the syrup and fell, dragging four other down with them. Elie rushed in and scooped up a fallen bat and tapped each on the head, knocking them out. Shade was reaching for the gun again, and she threw the bat at him, forcing him to dodge away from the pistol. Her next twist took her out of range of a wickedly sharp knife Elie was going to make sure she had when the fight was over. She kicked low and knocked her attacker, the woman named Sheila who taught Elie a thief's skills. As she backed away from the woman's reaching arms, Elie dropped a cluster of small knives near her friend's feet. Odd kicked them behind him before anyone could see and Elie was off again, dodging and using the syrup-covered floor to her advantage.

"You shouldn't have brought so many witnesses, Shade. In a cramped room like this, you really should have known better." Elie dodged a bat but got hit in the face with a fist that felt like a brick. The man named Brick, named for his punches, stood over her, glaring. Elie struggled to focus her vision and to see only one, not five, of her attacker. When she was fairly sure she knew which Brick was the real one, Elie flung a loosely tied sack of cloth at him, throwing dirt and small rocks into his eyes She missed, but someone behind Brick got hit and started swinging wildly with his metal bat. Elie heard the satisfying sound of metal against flesh and Brick fell.

Elie's left eye was swelling up, so she closed it and dove back into the fight. She hadn't planned to get hit in the face, knowing it would throw off her depth perception just enough to put her in danger. Shade had the gun in his hand again and was aiming at Elie. She dodged behind a mass of bodies as the roar of gunfire filled the room. Someone fell and Elie barely got out of the way in time as Razor, Elie's knife fighting teacher, fell clutching her shoulder and howling in pain.

There were only a few people up now, three thugs, Elie, and Shade. She didn't see her friends, but a quick glance at the spot they used to be at showed cut ropes. They'd gotten out, good.

Elie got new knives in her hands, the other one had been lost when she hid from the gun. In one arm she held a butcher's knife and in the other a boning knife. Very good blades, though maybe not the ones she would have picked. A throwing knife would have been better.

The thugs were blocking the door, so Elie went after Shade, chucking the boning knife at him before he could get a clear shot at her. He dodged, though he didn't have to. Her knife lodged in the desk in front of him. But it gave her time to throw three of the dirt wads in his face. She was rewarded this time as he cursed and tried to rub the dirt out of his eyes. In that time she ran forward and put her free knife at Shade's neck. "Don't move." She said, her good eye flicking to Shade, then the thugs, then back again. The three men were backing away, careful not to step on the groaning people on the floor.

"Good work, Mouse." Shade said, smiling. His eyes were closed, but she could see the tears streaming down his face as his eyes tried to wash the dirt out. "Hell, maybe you are worth keeping around. We would have to punish you of course, but after this? I think it would be worth it."

"I'd rather die than work for you guys again." Elie turned, forcing Shade to kneel so her knife could rest more easily against his neck.

"Pity. You really should have accepted my offer." Shade snapped his fingers and William Dunbar walked into the room. Elie stared at him for a moment, not believing her eyes. He couldn't really be William... right? Or Shade had lied to him. William and she didn't get along, but he wouldn't work with criminals to get back at her.

"William, get her off of me." Shade said. But William didn't attack her. He shot purple lightning out of his hands and watched the three thugs fall.

"XANA..." Elie cursed. Of course this was his work... but why? What did he gain from this? William turned and shot the lightning at Shade, forcing Elie to back away.

"Sarah." William/XANA turned to Elie as Shade fell. "What will you do now?"

"What?" She couldn't have heard him right... could she?

"What will you do now, Sarah? Will you go back to your pretend life at school? Your friends have seen what you really are now. They will want nothing more to do with you. You know it is true." Elie remained silent, not wanting to listen to him. "Will you go to your Simmons? Tell him what happened and have him relocate you? You could, i suppose, but then you will be leaving the only link you have to your father. You could run, but that's the same as going to Simmons."

Elie felt the crushing weight of despair. He was right... All of it was right. What could she do? "I... I want to make sure Odd and the others are alright."

XANA nodded and motioned to the door. When Elie left, he fallowed. Odd and her friends were in the main room of the factory, outside of the elevator. She could hear them, but she didn't let them see her.

"Elie put us all at risk." Ulrich said, glaring at Odd. "You heard what she said. We were just there to help her act."

"That's not true!" Odd practically yelled. "She cares. She gave us the knives to free ourselves with."

"She dropped them." Jeremie said, glaring. "After she brought the fight over to our corner. She used us as bait to distract some of those people and left us. The knives just fell out of her pocket."

"She dropped them so we could get free." Odd said sharply.

"Why didn't she warn us then?" Ulrich yelled. "She had plenty of chances to warn us about those guys and she didn't. She always avoided it when we asked to many questions."

"She said she was in trouble. And she said she couldn't talk about it."

"How do you explain that look she gave us?" Yumi spoke up and Elie looked down. Hearing Yumi argue against her hurt more than she'd thought. "It was cold, just like that Shade guy."

"I've heard enough..." Elie said, slipping back down stairs. Her arms crossed over her chest and Elie leaned on the wall. "I guess there isn't a place for me back there anymore."

"Odd defended your actions." XANA said. Elie didn't look up at him. Knowing that XANA controlled William like that bothered her.

"It won't last. What about you?" she asked softly. "You sent them the letter, and I'm guessing you've been controlling William all day. You told them about my friends. Why?"

"I had hoped your Shade would kill some of them. I wouldn't let him kill Aelita, but I don't need the others anymore."

"You could have done that any number of other ways."

"True." XANA said, nodding. "I wanted you to come back to Lyoko with me."

Elie laughed bitterly. So that was it... "Why would I do that?"

"To learn about your past, if you still cared about it. Mostly to protect your friends. It's... mutually beneficial."

"I fail to see how anyone gains from my return to Lyoko."

"You will finally be free of the humans chasing you. You'll return to the work your father gave you, and you will get your memories of him back if that's what you desire. You can silently protect your friends."

"And what do you get?"

"I get the power you stole from me back, and I'll get the rest of my code."

"There's more to it, isn't there?"

"You were made to be my check, Sarah. But You have things I want. The best way for me to get them is for you to be on Lyoko."

"So we'll be fighting each other on there?"

"Yes. But I can handle you."

Elie looked up the stairs where she could still hear her friends fighting with Odd. She could never go back to them. She could run, keep whatever it was XANA wanted away from him, start anew somewhere else. But they'd find her again if she left.

"Fine. But I want you to do a return trip to before you let Shade know where I was."

"Of course." XANA smiled and motioned for Elie to lead the way to the scanners. XANA went to the computer room and Elie got into the scanner. "Good by Odd." she said softly. The machine whirred to life and when Elie opened her eyes, she was in the mountain region of Lyoko. There was a tower not too far away. It would do as a home for now.


	26. XANA's Curse Part 26: Odd

Odd's head throbbed as vision returned to him. He didn't remember much, just someone grabbing him while he'd been sleeping. He woke only long enough to see a man with ham sized fists and someone knocked him out. Now he was tied up and something was in and over his mouth. He struggled for only a moment before he knew he couldn't get free. Ulrich and Yumi were with him, and past Yumi he saw Aelita's pink hair and a blond head that had to be Jeremie. Where was Elie? Had she gotten out already, or... His heart fell and he refused to finish the thought.

"Where is she?" One of the men asked. Odd's eyes flicked up to the ham-fisted man he'd seen before.

"She'll be here Brick. Don't worry." A man in a dark suit sat in an old computer chair as if it was a throne. Who were they talking about anyway?

The man called Brick shook his head. "No way a few kids are going to draw her out. She's been to careful to slip up over these brats."

"That boy says other wise." A woman's voice from somewhere to Odd's left hissed. "We've come to far to let her slip away."

"Can we trust that boy, Razor?" Brick asked skeptically.

"Of course. He has no idea who we are, and has no reason to lie. Besides, I checked the school records. A girl enrolled here around the time Mouse left us."

The man in the chair looked down and answered a cell phone. Yumi's Odd thought. "Hello, Mouse." He said with a smirk, then paused. "Why, the same thing I've always wanted, Mouse. You're head on a platter." Another pause. "She learned to bite!" Shade said with mock surprise. "Little Mouse, when did that happen?" The man laughed darkly at something the person on the phone said. "You've gotten much more interesting, Mouse. I wonder if your friends find you interesting too?"

Who was Mouse? What did this guy want? Odd strained to hear the other half of the conversation, but it was muted and what bits he could hear were to garbled to understand.

"Funny. That's not what our information says. I guess we can just kill these kids then." Odd's blood ran cold as the man paused again. He was going to kill them? Why? Could this be one of XANA's new attacks? No... if it was, Aelita would be on Lyoko already. So what was going on?  
"Because taking you wouldn't have been fair. We wanted to make you suffer for what you did to us." The woman named Razor tapped on the man's Shoulder. "Shade, they are waking up." Shade looked over and nodded. "I see. That will be all." He waved Razor off and turned his attention back to the phone. "There's a factory not far from the school. We found one of your friends here. I guess you kids like playing around here, right?" Shade grinned and closed the phone. "We were right. It's her. She'll be here in five. I expect she'll have a few knives with her. Small ones, though, so the school wouldn't find them. We'll be able to handle her with no fuss."

Odd looked around and it hit him... Elie. They were talking about Elie. But that couldn't be right, could it? She said she turned in the criminals. She was in WP! How could they have found her. Odd's head spun with ideas and then... there she was.

Elie walked into the room. She wore simple clothes, a black T and jeans. Little remained of her usual punk style that Odd had grown so fond of. Even less remained of the girl who watched bad movies and laughed at his worse jokes. Her eyes, golden and unhidden by contacts, were cold and distant. She spared a glace at him and Odd's heart dropped. It was like she didn't even know him, or any of them. She didn't care that they were tied up in the hands of criminals and were probably going to die.

"Mouse, it's been to long." Shade spoke and Elie turned to look at him. In a way Odd was glad. That cold look... it broke his heart. Had it all just been an act? Even last night? "Look how much you've grown. I still remember when we first found you. You were just a little thing then, abandoned by your father, living on the streets. And we brought you into our family. And this is how you repay our kindness? You go running off to the cops. Really, we didn't treat you that badly, did we? We gave you a home, fed you, clothed you. Gave you work you were good at."

"Yep. Made me steal things, shoved me into a cramped little room with five other girls, gave me six bits of clothes to wear. Hell, you even gave me two pares of shoes." Elie nodded, smiling sardonically. "Yep. Sure was the life."

Odd's eyes returned to Elie's face. That had to be a lie, right? She hadn't worked with these men. She hadn't... But it would explain so much. The things she wouldn't tell them seemed to click into place, but Odd refused to see the full picture. Shade wanted to know what Elie would have had if she'd stayed alone and Elie calmly said she'd be dead. Odd shook his head, not realizing that Ulrich and the others had woken up in time to hear all of this. Ulrich was trying to make Odd stop moving, but he was trembling.

"Then I'd like to know why you turned on us."

"Because you tried to whore me out. I was just a kid, Shade." Elie said, matter of factly. Odd flinched. Shade wouldn't really have done that, right? And Elie wouldn't... "You gave me off to one of your clients and you were going to let him do whatever he wanted to me."

Rage boiled inside of him. Odd didn't care if Elie had been lying to them the whole time or not. He still cared about her, and the thought that someone could have done that to her made him want to beat the crap out of everyone in the room. He was fighting again, and so were his friends.

"Well, yes." Shade shrugged. It nauseated Odd that he could be so casual about selling Elie like that. "Not that it worked. After you shot him and ran, things were quite a mess you know. He pulled his support. Couldn't you have at least killed him instead of shooting his arm?"

Rage filled Odd and he lost his hearing for a moment. He saw that Elie and Shade were still talking, keeping that cold air around them. This had to be a lie. All of it had to be. Maybe this was a nightmare and he'd wake up soon?

It all had to be a lie... What if 'Elie' was the lie? What if the girl he'd known, the girl he'd fallen for, had just been an act? But he could tell when Elie lied. That had to mean something, right? She couldn't be that good an actress... could she? The display in front of him argued that yes she could. Rage and despair warred within him.

Elie shrugged and Odd's hearing returned.. "Yep. It's a pity I have to die. Just one thing before we get at it. Don't make the kids watch. You'll be killing them soon enough, right? I think they actually cared about me. Maybe I care a bit for them too. I'd rather they not see me die."

Shade grinned. "A last request? Sorry, I'm not feeling that merciful."

Odd screamed and struggled forward. This wasn't happening, it just wasn't! He would wake up, Elie would tease him about his crazy dream and things would be normal again. He'd only just told her how he felt...

Shade lifted a gun Odd hadn't even known he'd had. It was a slow gesture. More for show than anything. Odd's heart pounded against his chest. She couldn't die. Elie couldn't die! Elie's line, 'I think they actually cared about me' was a lie. He knew. The one about her caring for them was not. That was enough for him. The rest could be sorted out, as long as she was still OK.

Elie's arm shot out and a knife cut into Shade's arm. The gun dropped and all hell broke lose. Odd struggled back against the wall, eyes wide as suddenly baseball bats were everywhere. Elie was everywhere too. She was pouring something on the floor and sliding on it. Others were slipping and falling, or getting stuck. The smell of Maple Syrup filled the room.

A woman turned and lifted her knives, eying Ulrich and Odd, but Elie was there, knocking the woman out and dropping a small cloth bundle in front of him without even looking. Odd used his legs to hide them and pull them up to his arms. Inside were knives. The good steak knives from the lunchroom. He moved so his fingers were at the bundle and pulled one knife out and gave it to Ulrich who started sawing away at his ropes. The next went to Yumi, then Aelita and Jeremie. Ulrich finished first and went to defense. When Odd and Yumi were free they helped Aelita and Jeremie.

"I'm going to help her." Odd said, heading for the group. Ulrich stopped him.

"Don't be stupid! We need to get out of here."

"She's in trouble!" Odd argued, dodging a bat and kicking the attacker as Ulrich stopped a second.

"Yeah, so? You heard what she said. Don't make me drag you out."

Odd turned and tried walking into the group of people attacking Elie, but Yumi and Ulrich dragged him out of the room before he could help her. They didn't let him go until they were next to the elevator and everything was quiet down stairs.

Odd tried to go back to her but was stopped yet again.

"What if she's hurt?!" Odd demanded, anger filling him again.

"It doesn't mater, Odd." Ulrich snapped. "She was going to let them kill us! She didn't even try to protect us."

"Yes she did. She dropped the knives."

"Elie put us all at risk." Ulrich said, glaring at Odd. "You heard what she said. We were just there to help her act."

"That's not true!" Odd practically yelled. "She cares. She gave us the knives to free ourselves with."

"She dropped them." Jeremie said, glaring. "After she brought the fight over to our corner. She used us as bait to distract some of those people and left us. The knives fell out of her pocket."

"She dropped them so we could get free." Odd said sharply.

"Why didn't she warn us then?" Ulrich yelled. "She had plenty of chances to warn us about those guys and she didn't. She always avoided it when we asked to many questions."

"She said she was in trouble. And she said she couldn't talk about it."

"How do you explain that look she gave us?" Odd was surprised to hear Yumi argue against Elie. The two had been good friends. "It was cold, just like that Shade guy. She would have let us die."

Odd's temper snapped. "You guys sure are great friends. She was lying to them, trying to keep us safe, and you left her to the wolves. She could be hurt down there, dead even, and you won't let me go see?!"

"They'll fallow you! They'll come looking for us when they know we've left. We have to hide!"

Odd glared at Ulrich, then rushed forward and ran past him, down the stairs and into the room he'd been captive in. Elie was gone. Everyone was knocked out, even Shade, or worse. Where had she gone?"

"Elie!" Odd called, but there was no reply. Then a white light washed over him and he was back in his room. Ulrich was sitting on his bed and Kiwi was asleep.

"Who took us back?" Ulrich asked. "Do you think it was Elie?"

Odd's heart lifted. If Elie had started the return trip, she'd be in her room, right? Odd ran out the door and down the stairs. He heard Ulrich behind him and maybe Jeremie too. On the girl's level, Elie's door was open. She never left her door open. But maybe she was inside...?

Odd turned and saw Aelita sitting on the edge of Elie's bed looking distraught. "She's not here..." Aelita said, looking up at him. Jeremie walked to Aelita's side and grabbed her hand. Ulrich snorted from the door way. "Good." Odd turned and raised his fist... then lowered it when he saw the look in Ulrich's eyes. They were sad, hurt. The same look that Jeremie and Aelita had.

They had all cared about Elie in their own ways. She was a dear friend, and they thought she'd betrayed them, left them to die. Was he the only one who believed she was protecting them...?

Ulrich glared at Odd, then answered his phone, which was ringing. It was Yumi, wanting to know what happened. Odd couldn't stay and listen. He needed to get out, get away from everyone and decided what to do now. He had to find Elie. If she hadn't come back during the return trip, what had happened to her?

He refused to believe she was dead. She hadn't been in that room and everyone had been knocked out. If she'd done the return trip, she would have been back here, or wherever she'd been at 3 AM that night, or she could be on Lyoko. Did Elie even know how to do the return trip? It was possible... After all she had a connection with Lyoko.

Odd turned at the sound of foot steps and turned to see Aelita. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I want to find Elie. There had to be more to all that than..." Aelita trailed off for a moment. "I want to find her."

Odd nodded. "I was thinking, she probably set off the return trip. So she has to be around here somewhere, right? Or maybe she went to Lyoko. Let's check back at the factory."

Aelita nodded and the two left. A moment later, Jeremie called, saying that XANA was attacking. It was as if nothing had changed. XANA was attacking, and they were off to stop him. But Elie wasn't there... Odd grit his teeth. He'd help, but mostly he just wanted to know if Elie was on Lyoko or not. He's talk to her, make her understand he didn't care about her past, that he loved her anyway.

Ulrich and the others joined Odd and Aelita at the factory entrance. Odd didn't talk to them as they descended into the factory, and wouldn't have spoken up at all if there hadn't been a stranger sitting in Jeremie's chair.

The man turned, reviling a grey mustache and beard with matching gray hair. His eyes were covered by glasses. "Ah. I've been expecting you." He turned away as Jeremie and the others shared a look. "That XANA... Always locks the door, but leaves the window wide open..."

Jeremie approached the man cautiously. "That... I... What are you doing here?"

"Deactivating the towers of course." The man said simply.

"Without going to Lyoko?!"

"Of course." The man worked on the computer a moment longer.

"I don't get it." Aelita said as the rest of the group joined Jeremie. "Who are you?"

"Don't you get it yet?" The man asked. "I'm Franz Hopper."


	27. XANA's Curse Part 27: Franz Hopper

"I'm Franz Hopper." The main in the chair said simply. "I'm the one who created Lyoko. And XANA too, before I lost control of him. In the beginning, it was a program I created to counter a military project biased on a multi-agent system."

"What about me?" Aelita asked.

"I crated you to be Lyoko's guardian." He turned to look at her with a small smile. "I never expected to see you here. In flesh and blood." Aelita smiled, blushing lightly.

"Then where have you been these past few years?" Ulrich asked, turning to Franz who looked away.

"You could say I was a prisoner who finally managed to escape."

Odd shared a look with the others before Aelita spoke again. "You said you created me, but Elie saw me in her memories. I was a person, wasn't I?"

Franz shook his head. "No. I biased you off of a girl I knew many years ago. But who is Elie?"

"She's the sixth member of our group." Odd said, ignoring the looks Ulrich and Jeremie gave him.

"Why isn't she here then?"

"It's complicated. She kinda.. vanished. Recently."

"I see. Well, there are a few things you should know about her though. Her name isn't Elie. It's Sarah. She was the daughter of my friend and research partner. She was frail and sickly as a child, and she was dying. My friend used the scanners to put his daughter in the world of Lyoko. From there, he tried to merge her programming with that of XANA. The result is the virus we face today."

Odd looked down and Aelita asked the question he couldn't. "How could that happen? Why did that make XANA a virus?"

"It's complicated, Aelita. The short version is that Sarah's code was corrupted by her illness. Merging the two cleared Sarah's code and made her well again, but twisted XANA's programing. In many ways, it's her and her father's fault. I told him it was to risky but he did it anyway."

"So, what now?" Yumi asked.

"We must shut XANA down."

"We'd love to Franz, but we can't. XANA gave Aelita a bug. If we shut down the computer, then Aelita..."

"I see. We'll find the Anti-virus then."

"That's great, but how?"

"Well, that is why I came. I'm here to help." Franz put his hand on Jeremie's shoulder and nodded, then got back to work.

"Wait. We still need to find Elie. Franz, is she on Lyoko? Will you look for us?" Odd looked from Franz to the computer screens.

"Why bother?" Ulrich said with a glare. "She's not part of the group anymore. Not after what she did."

Franz turned to Ulrich, confused. "What did Sarah do to upset you so much?"

"She put us all in danger." Jeremie said, shaking his head. "It's complicated, but Ulrich's right. She's out of the group for now."

"But she could be on Lyoko." Odd argued. "Will you just look. Please?"

Franz nodded and typed on the computer for a moment before shaking his head. "No. No one's on Lyoko right now. Does that mean you've been using the scanners to send people to Lyoko?"

"Yes. It's the only way we could find to fight XANA and deactivate the towers." Jeremie said, looking up at Franz.

"I see. It wasn't ready for human testing. Sarah proved that. I'll check each of you out tomorrow to make sure there hasn't been any damaged. For now, I'll stay here and work on the Anti-virus."

Odd nodded. "I'll keep looking for her. If she isn't on Lyoko, she can't be far. Just one thing Franz... Did you start that return trip?"

"No."

"Then it had to be Elie." Aelita said, nodding. "I'm going with Odd. I want to find her."

Ulrich glared. "Fine. Find her if you want, but I'm not going to listen to whatever lie she'll try to feed you."

Odd didn't dignify that with an answer and Aelita fallowed Odd to the elevator.

Two hours later, it was clear Elie wasn't at the factory. Odd and Aelita had searched everywhere, even coming across what looked like an apartment in the lower levels. Elie had been there. Odd knew it by the display of stuffed old animals sat against the wall that were clear of the dust and cobwebs the rest of the apartment was filled with. Why hadn't she told him about this place? Had she lived here?

Odd left the rooms hesitantly, but he knew Aelita was right to insist they check the school. She wasn't there ether, but they were out of time to look anywhere else. It was lights out, and Jim had decided to keep a special eye on Odd and his friends.

A search the next morning yielded the same results, and Elie's room hadn't changed at all since the day before so she hadn't returned. On the way to the factory, Odd checked every where he could, but Elie was still missing. Franz hadn't seen her ether, and he hadn't detected anyone in the factory on any of the security cameras. Odd's heart fell at the news. She couldn't have left like that, could she?

"The Devirtualization proses is a dangerous procedure with bad side effects." Franz was explaining as Odd tried to think of other places she could be. Maybe she'd taken shelter with Mr. Simmons? He's check there tonight, and was a bit embarrassed he hadn't thought of that sooner.

"Like what?" Aelita asked, worried.

"Cell Degeneration." That brought Odd's attention back. "Do you think we...?"

"That's why I'm going to check. Go down to the scanners."

"Franz, shouldn't we check Elie too?" Aelita asked.

"Yes, if you can find her that is. You can keep looking for her this afternoon, but for now I think it's important that we check you three."

"What about Aelita?" Yumi asked.

"I'll check her next. Now, you three go down."

Odd nodded and a few minuets later came up again. He Ulrich and Aelita were fine. Yumi however...

"No! It can't be!" Jeremie shook his head, refusing to believe what the screens told him. Yumi couldn't have cell degeneration.

Yumi looked green. "I... I can't believe it. What a nightmare..."

"I... I didn't know. I'm sorry." Jeremie looked at the floor as if he was to devastated to do anything else.

"You're sorry?!" Ulrich snapped, taking a step forward. "You're sorry?! Well sorry isn't going to help fix Yumi!"

"Yumi, I-"

Yumi stood, cutting Jeremie off. "Just leave me alone, Jeremie. I need to be by myself."

Yumi walked to the elevator and went up, Ulrich hanging by her side. Odd pressed the button and waited for the elevator to come back. Everything had gone to hell...

"We're going to go Franz. I'm sorry we just..."

"I understand Jeremie. I'll call you if anything happens."

The elevator arrived and Odd, Aelita, and Jeremie rode up in silence.

Odd walked to Mr. Simmons house, heart weary from the past days events. How had things gotten this bad...? Had it really only been a few days ago that Elie and he had watched Nightmare Before Christmas?

The apartment building was a simple but well kept place, but Odd didn't get a chance to find out if Mr. Simmons place was the same. He ran into Elie's 'dad' outside. "Hello, Mr. Simmons." Odd waved, trying to act cheery and normal.

"Oh, Hello. You're Odd right? One of Elie's friends?" The older man smiled and turned. "How can I help you?"

"I was wondering If Elie had stopped by today."

"No. Why did something happen?"

Odd could see the worry in Mr. Simmons's face and Odd quickly shook his head. "No. Well, kinda."

"Tell me."

"We just had a fight. Well, more Elie and Ulrich really. I haven't seen her since this morning. I was hopping she'd come to see you." Odd didn't like lying about how long Elie had been gone, but if he said it had been two days, Mr. Simmons would have freaked out.

Mr. Simmons relaxed a bit and smiled in a very fatherly way. "Don't worry. Elie's not the type to stay angry. I'm actually surprised she got mad at all. Ulrich must really know how to push her buttons. She's also the type who likes to be alone a lot, especially when she's upset."

"I know." Odd said, smiling despite himself.

"She'll come back soon. But let me know when she does. I'll keep an eye out for her while I'm running around town. What's your cellphone number?" Mr. Simmons pulled out his phone and took Odd's number, then gave his own. "You know Odd, I'm glad Elie has someone like you looking out for her." The man pat Odd on the back, then left the building. Disheartened, Odd fallowed and went back to the school.

At dinner, Odd had almost given up. Everyone seemed to be down, not that Odd could blame them. With what happened with Shade and Elie, and now with Yumi...

"I'm sure there is a way to cure Yumi." Jeremie said to the silence.

"We don't even know exactly what's wrong with her though." Odd said.

"I'll work it out. I promise I will."

"I think you've done enough Jeremie." Ulrich said, glaring.

Jeremie looked hurt. "What do you mean by that? That everything's been my fault right from the start?"

"Well you're the brains of this outfit, Einstein!" Ulrich turned the once affectionate nickname into a slur and Jeremie walked away.

Aelita stood and glared as well. "You know Ulrich, if it wasn't for the scanners, I wouldn't even be here!" She fallowed Jeremie out of the lunchroom and Odd sighed. "You're being to harsh on him, Ulrich. I know you're upset about Yumi-"

"You don't know the first thing about it!" Ulrich stood and glared at Odd.

"Yes I do. I've lost Elie, and you don't even care. Yumi is still around at least and maybe you can help her. Jeremie is trying to make this right. Maybe you should take a look around Ulrich. You're not the only one suffering right now."

Odd walked out of the Lunchroom without touching his dinner.

Another night went by, and even Kiwi couldn't help Odd anymore. Where was she? How could she just leave without saying a word to anyone? Not even. Mr. Simmons. She had to have started the return trip, so Shade wouldn't have been a problem anymore... Unless she'd gone after them. But there would have been something in the news, right? Elie kicked their buts even when they knew she was coming. There was no way she'd lose if she surprised them. So what the hell had happened?

Franz called in the middle of the night, saying he had fantastic news. He could make the Anti-virus. All he needed now some data from Sector Five.

"That's great." Aelita said, once everyone was at the factory. "This will be our last mission."

Ulrich nodded, grinning. "Then we can shut the computer down for good."

Odd nodded. Ulrich hadn't spoken to him since their fight in the lunch room.

"What can I do?" Jeremie asked.

"If I were you, I'd stay out of the way." Franz said coldly. Odd looked up, surprised. Franz had seemed so cool, almost fatherly.

"It's not fair!" Jeremie almost yelled. "Everyone blames me for everything, and we all turned the super computer back on together."

"Perhaps." Franz said, turning to look at Jeremie. "But you were the one who played the Sorcerers Apprentice. You're the one who put your friends lives at risk, and you're the one who let XANA destroy my diary." With each word Franz seemed to get more and more pissed off.

"Fine... I get it." Jeremie turned and ran to the elevator. Aelita tried to fallow, but it was to late.

"Let him go. He'll cool off eventually. For now, Let's get that data. I'm sending Ulrich Yumi and Odd to clean up, then we'll send you down Aelita. Go to the scanners."

Ulrich nodded and led the way. Soon they were on Sector Five, put directly in the Transport room thanks to Franz. He'd even given them upgraded weapons. Odd's darts and Yumi's fans were now homing and would it two or three monsters in one attack. Ulrich's sword powered up. It was a good thing their weapons got upgraded; there was an army of Creepers standing between them and the switch. They cleared the room and Ulrich pressed the switch, but the army wouldn't let them leave the room.

No big... or so Odd thought until his darts wouldn't shoot anymore. Ulrich's sword and Yumi's fans vanished too and when Odd got hit by a laser, it burned like fire.

"Franz, help!" Yumi yelled, dodging attacks.

Nothing answered them but silence.


	28. XANA's Curse Part 28: Exile

Elie closed her eyes, sighing. She was finally home. On Lyoko. XANA was trying to trick her into giving him something vital that he needed, but she was far more clever than he'd expected. XANA had kindly offered to transfer the data to her as he had been before, to get her curious enough to come looking for her memories. She declined, knowing she could get the data her offered her from the terminal in Sector Five, even if she had to look hard for it there. She'd be damned before she let XANA in her head again.

Life on Lyoko was much as she remembered it. Simple. She had little to fear from the monsters since she had daggers, unlike before. Mostly she stayed in the mountain area building defenses around her tower-home and making the area around it more to her liking or re-learning how to use the towers. She had started similar projects in the other three sectors, but for now she wanted the Mountains to be her home.

She wanted to go to Sector Five, but XANA knew that's where she'd go. She would bide her time, wait for him to drop his guard. He'd send the stupid jellyfish after her and she'd know he'd be out of patience.

Elie's plan to wait it out, however, didn't work. It had been less than a day when she felt XANA activate not one, but six towers. She cursed, wishing she had more time. She didn't know how to shut XANA's towers down without actually going to that tower yet. If she had more time... But that was probably why he'd done this so quickly. She wouldn't have time to learn what she needed. She'd have to come out in the open, and Jeremie would probably send Aelita and the rest of their friends to fix the problem.

Thinking about that reminded Elie of Odd, a subject she was avoiding like the plague. Thinking of him hurt to much and made her want to return to earth. She missed him so desperately... No. She wasn't going to think about him. In time his memory would fade, and she would be able to go on with her life and her new role.

Elie called her Overwind and headed toward the tower activated in the Mountain area. It wasn't to far away and in a mater of minuets she was there. But just as she was about to walk into the tower, it deactivated on it's own. Elie looked around, just to be sure Aelita or Ulrich or anyone wasn't around. The area was empty... That didn't make any sense. Then she felt four of the other towers turn off as well. There was one left... but Elie had no idea where it was. Maybe if she worked at the tower she could find it?

Back at her home tower, Elie scanned the data, looking at the list of towers. None were active, but Elie could clearly feel one, though the pulsations were faint. Then what? Sector Five didn't have towers, only the terminal, and XANA couldn't use that to affect the real world anyway. So what?

Hesitantly Elie pulled up the surveillance data for the Factory. There, in the computer room, Elie saw Jeremie, Aelita, Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd. Seeing him made Elie's heart hurt so badly she wanted to scream, but she remained silent. He looked tired, so sad... Devastated even. And it was her fault. She had caused him and all of her friends so much pain. But in time, they would forget her. They would move on too. He would move on. Maybe if she said it enough it would be true.

But there was someone else there. Someone Elie knew couldn't be there. Sitting in the chair, working on the Super Computer, was Franz Hopper. But he couldn't be there. Now Elie knew what the attack was, but could she learn how to work the towers in time to stop him? Elie turned to pull up new areas of data and began to work.

Two and a half days later, Elie was no closer to finding XANA's tower, or to learning how to remotely shut one down. She had, however, recently come across an interesting bit of data. She could use that. Especially since everyone had fallen for XANA's trick. Even Jeremie, who Elie thought would be able to see threw the attack.

She had been keeping a close eye on the Franz imposter and her friends and things were going down hill very very quickly. The group was falling apart, but Elie knew without the fake Franz there, things would get better. And since she couldn't find the tower to stop the attack, Elie would have to use the data she'd found a few hours ago. Elie opened a new panel and put her hand on it, using the code Sarah to activate her tower. XANA would try to stop her no doubt, but he'd find it much harder to take over this tower than he'd planned. Elie closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she was in Jeremie's room as a Phantom.

She hadn't learned how to give her image a physical form yet, but for this trip the image was all she required. Maybe it was for the best this way. She moved around in the new form, finding it comfortable, almost like her own body. She could see things, hear things, but the world had no physical sensation. Her hand went through a lamp when she tried to turn it on. Now she would have to wait.

Jeremie didn't make her wait long. After a few minuets he stormed into his room, not noticing he had a guest until Elie cleared her throat to draw his attention.

Jeremie turned in surprise, then his eyes narrowed in a glare. "What are you doing here?" He demanded.

Elie shrugged. "Trying to save you."

"Yeah right. What happened to your friend Shade huh? Why didn't you try to 'save' us from him?" Jeremie shot back at her, clenching his fist.

"I did." Elie said, looking down. "I gave you the knives to get you free, I drew their attention to me so you could get out. I acted like i didn't care about you guys so they wouldn't hurt you. I should have trusted you more and told you about them, but I didn't. It was a mistake and I regret it. Those are the facts, Jeremie. Whether you believe me or not doesn't mater right now. You are in danger."

Jeremie turned away from her. "We don't need your help anymore Elie, they've got Franz now. So just go away."

"Franz is an imposter. It's an attack from XANA."

"Oh please." Jeremie scoffed and turned to face her again. "There aren't even any activated towers."

"Yes there is, but it's not anywhere I can find on Lyoko. Jeremie, listen to me! If you don't get your ass back there, XANA is going to win! He'll take Aelita's memories, probably kill our friends. Use your brain Einstein! You know he's not who he says he is."

Jeremie was still glaring at her, but slowly his eyes softened. "How did he know his diary got destroyed...?" Jeremie asked, more to himself than to Elie. He turned and pulled the brief case full of broken CDs out from it's hiding place in his wardrobe and examined them.

"Because he's XANA." Elie said softly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Jeremie nodded and turned to her. "Elie, where have you been?"

"It doesn't matter. Just go. Aelita needs you. You can't let her go to Lyoko."

"Come with me, Elie. If that's true, the gang is going to need your help on Lyoko."

Elie shook her head. "I can't. Jeremie, you can't tell them you saw me. I want you all to forget me, ok?"

"Elie..."

"Just forget me." Elie repeated, then let her image fade. When Elie looked up again, she was back in her home tower. Talking with Jeremie had been much harder than she'd thought it would be. Now she had to make her way to Sector Five and pray that she was right. If the tower wasn't there... There was no way she'd be able to save her friends without them seeing her.

Elie used her Overwind to get to the edge of the sector, then called the transporter. A moment later she was in sector five, running through the corridor. The main room was open and empty, so she continued forward. There they were, fighting creepers without any effort. Odd's arrows hit the target no mater how he shot. Yumi's fans hit four or even five Creepers before returning to her. Ulrich's sword shot waves of energy. For now, they were safe. Elie stayed in the shadows where she wouldn't be seen and waited. If she knew XANA he'd make his move soon. Elie didn't have to wait long for her friends to run into trouble.

Odd grinned, aiming at a creeper that slithered up to him. "Hey Ulrich, whoever kills the most wins." Nothing happened. Odd moved his wrist around, but still nothing. Then Yumi's fans vanished. A second later Ulrich's sword vanished too. The three looked at each other and the creepers took the chance to attack, hitting Ulrich and knocking him back.

"Franz, we need help!" Odd yelled, but nothing happened. XANA had made his move. Ulrich stood and the three ran through the corridor.

"No... It's not Franz." Yumi said, pointing forward. Elie looked where Yumi was and saw the sixth tower she'd been looking for floating a few yards away from the platform. If she could get to it...

The creepers rushed forward, shooting at her friends. Elie knew she wouldn't be able to get to the tower yet, it was to far away. She Phazed and ran into one of the creepers, turning it on it's fellow monster. Odd had started a boxing match with one creeper to her right, and Yumi and Ulrich were fighting two more to the left.

Elie shot the two near her, then turned her attacks to Yumi and Ulrich's attackers. They went down easy, and Odd softened up the last one. The three looked at Elie's creeper, but before they could attack or talk to her (Elie wasn't sure which was worse), she took her creeper and fled back to the main room. As she left her monster, she caused it to self destruct. She then phased into a wall. As she'd expected, Odd and the others ran in after her.

While they were looking for the creeper, Elie went back toward the tower. She sang a platform into existence so she could get to the tower. As she was walking across, someone called her name. Ellie turned to see Yumi and Ulrich standing behind her. Odd was still running and ran into her, holding her tightly. "Elie..."

Elie closed her eyes and pulled away. She didn't need her eyes to see the hurt in his eyes. "Elie...?" She still didn't answer him and turned away. Odd grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "You just vanish for days and show up out of nowhere and you won't even talk to me?!" He demanded. "Do you know how worried I've been."

Elie looked down, but Odd's hand gently lifted her head to look at him again. Her throat closed up and she started to shake. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to get in, get out, and above all they weren't supposed to know she was there. Odd wasn't...

"Where have you been?" Odd asked softly.

"Here..." Elie said softly, shaking still. "I've been here."

"Why? Why did you run away like that?"

"I got you guys hurt." she said softly. "Almost killed because I didn't trust you enough. I thought it was better if i just vanished. So I did."

"Elie, that's not..." Odd hugged her again, resting his head on her shoulder. "Come back, Elie. Don't leave me again."

Elie bit her lip. "How can you... After everything that happened, how can you say that Odd? I hurt you, lied to you, almost got you killed."

Odd lifted his head and grinned in that classic way that Elie loved so much. "Because I love you."

Elie closed the small gap between them, touching her lips to his in a gentile yet passionate kiss. "I love you too. But I have to take care of this tower. I'll come back." Elie smiled at him, then turned and walked into the tower. She let the power lifted her to the second level and entered Code: Lyoko onto the panel. She smiled softly to herself. "Tower Deactivated."

Elie kept her word and returned to earth with Odd, who wouldn't leave her side. It seemed that Jeremie and Aelita had forgiven her, but Yumi still had her reservations. Ulrich didn't trust her at all, but she couldn't blame him. She could barely believe she was even back on earth. She had wanted to stay on Lyoko, learn more about herself, but... She couldn't disappear now. Not after Odd's declaration. Maybe things could go back to almost normal, but Elie didn't know. Honestly, she had no idea what would happen now.


	29. XANA's Curse Part 29: Explanations

The first thing Elie had to do was set things right with her friends. She had tried to keep them safe by keeping them in the dark, but that plan had fallen apart. Second, she had to tell the group about what she found on her time in Lyoko. Third, she had to figure things out with Odd. They loved each other, they had finally said it, but Elie was afraid. Her love would be dark, twisted. She didn't even know what someone was supposed to do when they were in love. Could he really deal with that?

"One thing at a time." She said softly to herself.

"What do you mean?" Aelita asked, looking curiously at her friend.

Elie shook her head to say it was nothing and looked around her room. Everyone had come as she'd requested. Odd sat next to Elie at the head of the bed, and Aelita sat at the foot. Yumi and Ulrich leaned against the wall, still mistrusting and angry. Jeremie sat in the computer chair in the middle of the room.

"Right. I'm going to be honest with you guys. There won't be any secrets." Elie said.

"Yeah right." Ulrich scoffed. "We've had this talk already, remember?"

"I kept things from you, and told you when I did. This is different. I can't hide anymore, not that there's a point to hiding anyway. I kept secrets because I hoped to protect you and because I was ashamed. I'm still ashamed, but Telling you is worth it. At least, I hope it will be. Ask me anything."

"Are you a virgin?" Ulrich asked, making everyone look up in shock. "You said Shade whored you out. So, are you?"

"Yes, but I'm not pure."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Elie sighed. "I have never had sex, so in that sense, yes, I'm a virgin. I've had experience with one man before, though. Touching, mostly and..." Elie blushed and put her fingers to her lips. It took a moment, but she could feel the moment her friends understood. Odd tensed and she could feel his anger. "It was the night Shade was talking about. It was to be my 'introduction'."

"Were you willing?"

"No." Elie looked into Ulrich's eyes. "I shot him, remember? With his own gun."

Odd's arms wrapped around her, surprising Elie enough to turn her head to him. His eyes were dark and angry, but not angry at her. "Stop it Ulrich. That isn't any of your business. Elie, you don't want to talk about this, right?"

"Of course I don't. It's one of my worst memories." Elie didn't bother hiding the bitterness in her voice. "But I swore I would answer any question, so I did."

"Odd's right Ulrich. That's really not any business of yours. Elie, who exactly was Shade? Why did he come after you." Yumi unexpectedly came to her defense.

Elie nodded, this was closer to what she'd expected. "Shade is the current leader of my former gang. We were average-level for Atlanta. We had fingers in most illegal things. I was a thief, by the way. Or a distraction when it was needed. When my skills got me noticed by the bosses at the time, Wrex and Flare. After that I ran messages for them when I wasn't working. You'll recall I told you I turned in a few criminals? It was Wrex and Flare. I gave the cops info on Shade too, but he got away. He came after me for turning on the gang after... well, you know." Elie shrugged.

"Why did he call you Mouse?" Aelita asked, curiously. "For that matter, XANA called you Sarah. What's your real name, Elie?"

"I don't understand." Elie said, tilting her head. "They are all my name. None is any less 'real' than the other."

"Then what name should we call you?" Aelita asked.

"Elie, of course. Why would that change?"

"You still haven't told us why you were called Mouse. Or Sarah." Ulrich said.

"Oh, that. Sarah was the name my papa gave me. I was born as 'Sarah'. Then when the gang took me in, they gave me a new name, which was 'Mouse', because I was so small. I was the youngest member ever recruited. Then when I went into Witness protection, I was given the name 'Elie'. No one has given me a different name since then, but I think that even if someone tried to now, I'd resist. I'm rather fond of 'Elie'."

"Ok... During the fight, there were some knives that landed near us." Yumi started, but Elie nodded and interrupted her.

"Yes. Eight small knives so you could free yourselves. They were the good steak knives from the lunch room. I thought that you'd be tied up, so got the extra blades for you. I dropped them near Odd because he told me he knew how to pick locks. I thought he'd have the best shot at freeing his arms."

Yumi nodded. "But you were so cold about the whole thing."

"Of course." Elie said, slightly surprised. "If they knew i cared about you, any of you, they would have hurt you. I wouldn't allow that. It was risky enough asking Shade to take you to a different room, but I had to make him believe I wouldn't fight him. It made everyone drop their guards long enough for me to soak the floor in syrup. Before I came, I ran by the kitchen and got knives, syrup, and made small cloths filled with dirt and cinnamon and chili powder. I simply used these things to win the fight. It was honestly more luck than anything I think." Elie touched her eye were the phantom pain of a black eye still lingered. "I have a question for you if you don't mind, Ulrich."

Ulrich hesitated, then nodded.

"Do you really think I would have let you guys get hurt?"

Ulrich looked away. "I didn't know what to believe. I thought... And you've lied to us before. And I still don't trust you." Elie nodded and motioned for the next question. "Is there anything else you haven't told us about the gang?"

"I could list their activities and member list, the countries and cities in which they operate, and businesses that are associated with them if you like. But past that, I think you know all about that." Elie thought about it for a moment, ticking items off on her fingers. "My bosses, my involvement, when I joined up, why I left, what I did... Oh, why. I joined them because Papa died. They found me and offered me a place to stay. I was to young at the time to know what I was getting into. So... yep. Anything else?"

"Why did you run away when the fight was over?" Odd asked softly.

Elie closed her eyes and sighed. "I couldn't face you guys anymore. I heard you fighting by the elevator, and I knew I couldn't go back. Then XANA told me to come back to Lyoko... so I did. I would take over my role once again. Stop XANA from within Lyoko and protect you guys long enough for you to find Aelita's missing piece. I had hoped I could learn how to use the tower to alter memories like XANA can before then. That way you could shut down the computer and have no memory of me."

Elie was suddenly jerked around to face a very pissed off Odd. His hands were digging into her shoulders as he practically yelled at her. "Don't you dare!"

Elie was stunned by the sudden show of temper. "Huh...?" Why was he so mad? He wouldn't remember her.

"Don't you 'huh' me! You're talking about dying, Elie!" Odd glared at her and behind her, Elie heard the sounds of movement. The rest of the group shuffled out of the room and closed the door, leaving Elie alone with the angry Odd.

"I know, but technically it wouldn't be dying. I'd still be on Lyoko, so whenever the computer got turned on again, I'd still be there to stop XANA. It's kinda my job. Besides, you wouldn't remember me anymore, so you wouldn't get hurt by it."

Odd made a frustrated sound and turned away from her. "That's... How could you just do that?" Elie just looked at him confused and Odd sighed, trying to make himself calm down. "I wouldn't be happy if I forgot you. You would remember me, right? Wouldn't it hurt you?"

"Yes." Elie said, it was pretty obvious it would, wasn't it? She loved him.

"Well, it hurts me to know you would have done that."

Elie looked down, blushing. "Oh... You know, I made that plan before I knew you loved me. Maybe things could have been different..." Elie shook her head. "No.. it probably wouldn't have. I wouldn't have let myself admit i loved you back."

"Then why'd you say it when I did?" Odd asked, holding his arm out to her.

Elie slid in and sat against the wall with him. "Because I can't lie to you. And... well..." Elie looked down. "I just couldn't believe you didn't hate me. It was to much of a shock after everything that happened."

Odd shook his head and pressed his lips against the top of her head. "You're not going to be easy to be with."

"Nope." Elie smiled and closed her eyes, leaning against Odd and sighing in contentment. The two just sat in silence for a moment, then Elie sighed. "We should bring the others back in. There's more they need to know. Stuff I learned while I was on Lyoko."

Odd nodded and stood. "I'll get the others. You should let Mr. Simmons know you're back. I went looking for you, and yesterday I checked with him. Just let him know you are Ok."

Elie nodded and pulled out her cellphone. It went to the machine, so Elie said "Hey Dad, it's me. My friend said he was looking for me at your place. Sorry about that, I was feeling down and went out in the woods for a while. Take care." she put her phone on her dresser in case he called back and waited.

Odd came back ten minuets later with the rest of the group. Elie smiled at them, even Ulrich who looked less pissed than before, though he hadn't stopped glaring.

"What did you need to tell us about Lyoko?" Jeremie asked as the door closed and everyone settled in.

"It's about the Anti-virus. You don't need to program one." Elie said, holding her hand up to silence Jeremie's protest. "Aelita doesn't have a Virus. XANA took part of her code. I'm pretty sure it's her memories from her time as a human."

"But I was never..." Aelita said softly, but Elie shook her head. "You were. You're Franz Hopper's daughter. You took care of me when I was sick as a child."

Aelita looked down, trying to come to terms with it. "Are you sure?"

"Very. I've been remembering a lot of things lately. XANA didn't take my memories, only locked them away. He's been trying to bring some bits back because I've got part of his code. When I was a program, My father used XANA to try and 'fix' me. It corrupted him, and my 'sick' code got swapped with part of his 'healthy' code. He wants it back, but he slipped up and showed me you when he didn't mean to."

"So we just need to go to Lyoko and get that fragment back?" Ulrich asked.

Elie nodded. "Yes. Then we can shut the computer down. But XANA knows I know where it is. Expect resistance."

"Ok. We'll prepare for the worst." Odd said. "But what about you? You were remembering your dad."

"Yes, but I've lived this long without remembering him and Lyoko. And once the computer is shut down, It won't mater anymore, right? So shut it down."

Jeremie nodded. "If you're sure, Elie." When Elie nodded, Jeremie continued. "Then we'll prepare for our lest mission ever."

Elie smiled softly at her friends. They seemed so happy right now. She wished it would last forever.

Four days later, Elie and Jeremie were sitting in his room. Everyone seemed to be back to normal now. Even Ulrich only glared at her occasionally now. Jeremie and Aelita seemed more energetic than usual as they worked on the plan.

"So, we have to go threw this door here?" Aelita asked, pointing at a map Elie had sketched.

"No, here. We need to go down this way." Elie pointed to a corridor slightly to the left of where Aelita had. The two nodded. "We'll go down this hall, then we'll come to a large open area. It should be there."

Aelita nodded. "Ok. Jeremie, do you have things ready on your end?"

Jeremie nodded. "Yes, I think so. We should be ready for anything XANA throws at us."

Elie nodded and grinned slightly. "Perfect. Let's just hope we can actually pull this off." Elie put her hand over the paper, waiting for Aelita and Jeremie to do the same. Aelita did first, then Jeremie. Elie smiled at them. "Let's kick some ass."


	30. XANA's Curse Part 30: Whole Again

Elie smiled to herself and picked at her lunch. The plans were all set. After school today they would go to Lyoko. They would retrieve Aelita's missing piece and finally shut the super computer down for good. Things would get better then, right? Though looking at her friends it was hard to imagine things could get better. Everyone was happy and there was a buzz of excitement. It was almost over. And to make things even better, it was the end of the year dance tonight. They'd be done with time left to enjoy the party.

"What's wrong?" Odd asked, watching Elie poke her spaghetti for the fourth time.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just thinking and I'm glad to see everyone's enjoying themselves."

"Yeah. I'm looking forward to the dance tonight. I'm hopping a certain someone will ask me to go." Yumi said, giving not to subtle looks at Ulrich who as always was to dense to know she was talking about him. Some times Elie felt like she knew more about relationships than he did which was just sad.

"Ulrich dear!" Sissi called, walking up to their table and smiling. "Isn't there something you want to ask me?"

"Yeah. What's with that shirt? You look like a canary." Ulrich said, laughing at Sissi's bright yellow shirt. Elie chuckled slightly, which was more than she could say for the rest of her friends. As they laughed Sissi stopped off, making some kind of excuse about yellow being 'in' this summer.

"What have you got to wear, Elie?" Yumi asked.

Elie gave up on her lunch and passed it to Odd who accepted gratefully. "I don't know. Maybe my favorite baggy pants and a top?"

"You should dress up!" Yumi insisted. Aelita nodded. "Maybe even wear a dress."

"I don't own any dresses." Elie pointed out. "And there's no time to get one."

Yumi leaned down and whispered into Elie's ear. "But you want to look cute for Odd, don't you?" Elie blushed lightly and her eyes darted to Odd's face. He was making a silly face and trying to get Ulrich to laugh at one of his bad jokes. She didn't need to say anything.

"Then you should come over to my place. You and Aelita both. We can get ready together."

"Makeovers and stuff?" Elie asked, trying not to wince. Yumi nodded. "That's really not my kinda thing..."

"Please Elie? It would be so much fun!" Aelita chimed in.

Elie tried to think of a way out of the makeover and was saved by the bell ringing for the next class. "I'll think about it." She said, standing and waiting for Odd to walk to her her next class. She had music this period, which sadly they didn't have together.

"So, I guess I'll meet you at the dance?" Odd said.

Elie nodded, holding Odd's hand as they walked. It still felt strange to her, almost like a dream. "Yumi and Aelita want to do make overs... I'm going to try and get out of it. We might not even have time after the mission, so I might not have to do anything."

Odd nodded. "You girls just have fun. Try not to let them brain wash you though."

"I can see it now. I'll go over for a simple girl's night. Little do I know, they'll be waiting there with mind controlling eye shadow and lip gloss!"

Odd laughed and Elie's giggle joined him. "You know, maybe you should write movie scrips. You've got some good ideas."

Elie snorted. "Please. If I'm going to produce anything, it's going to be music."

"I can see that. You're amazing you know."

"Thanks." Elie smiled up at Odd. "Maybe when this is all said and done, I'll be able to put more time into my music. And I can help you with your short films."

"Sounds good." Odd kissed Elie's forehead and took a step back. "I'll see you after class."

Elie nodded, glad he never pointed out how bad her blush was when he did that. "Yeah. See you later Odd."

Odd wasn't waiting for her after class. Instead she found Ulrich leaning on a pillar waiting. "What are you doing here?" She asked carefully. The two had a truce now, but Elie was still mad at him, and Ulrich was very open about not trusting her.

"I wanted to... Apologize." Ulrich said, looking to the side.

"Seriously?" Elie couldn't believe that. It was so unlike Ulrich.

"Yes, seriously. I went to far the other day with what I said. You're right it should have stayed between you and Odd." Elie's eyebrow twitched up and she put her hand against his forehead. "Hey!" Ulrich backed up. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Checking for a fever. You seem to be alright... strange." Elie looked him up and down. "You're not a clone, are you?"

"You've been watching to many stupid movies." Ulrich spat. "I just wanted to say I was sorry. Do you forgive me or not?"

Elie hesitated, thinking about the answer. "No. But this isn't the kind of thing that can be forgiven with just a few words. It'll take time."

"Why?"

"You said it yourself. That should have stayed between me and Odd. More than that, you made me talk about that in front of everyone when I didn't want to. It's hard to talk about even under good circumstances."

"I don't get it. I said I was sorry, so can't we move on already?"

"It's not something you could understand, Ulrich." Elie said simply. "But yes, we can move on. Just know it's going to take a while for me to forgive you. It won't affect our friendship or your friendship with Odd. It's a sore subject, but it'll be OK. Thank you for apologizing Ulrich. It means a lot."

Ulrich hesitated, then nodded and walked off. "What was that about?" Odd asked from behind Elie. She stiffened only a little bit before turning and smiling at him.

"Ulrich apologized to me." She said with a smile.

"Really? Wow." Odd's eyes fallowed Ulrich's retreating back. "Did you forgive him?"

"No. But it was a good first step. Come on. Let's go to the factory. It's time to end this!"

Odd grinned at Elie and nodded. "Race you there!" Elie laughed and took off, Odd not far behind her.

Odd beat her to the factory, but only by a few seconds. She had gotten underground first, but he'd caught up with her on his skateboard. The others had arrived soon after and soon they were on Sector five. This part of the mission would be simple: Elie would go after the button to stop the count down, but rather than push the button in she would twist it like a locker combination. That would unlock the path they needed. While she was doing that, the others would keep the creepers busy and out of her hair.

"It's up there." Yumi said, pointing to a spot almost to the high ceiling. Naturally this couldn't be easy.

"Thanks." Elie said, running for the first block she needed to climb. With that height, it was going to take everything she had to get there in time. Once she was up several blocks, Elie took a second to check on the battle below. Things were going well, but XANA had sent an army of creepers to stop the group. He knew they were going to shut him down if they won this time. Knowing him, Elie had guessed Aelita would be his top target today. If he could get what he needed from her, he could get his code back from Elie any time.

She jumped to the next block, noticing that what had at first looked like steps were thin bars that got thinner the closer Elie got to the button. As she got closer, the bars shrank until, on the final bar, she had only a few inches to place her feet. As if that wasn't bad enough, there was another creeper waiting for her. She had to back up a few feet to avoid it's attacks, but soon ran out of room. If she went back any more, Elie would fall.

"Only ten seconds left!" Jeremie announced.

There wasn't any time to mess around then. Elie ran forward, getting shot in the shoulder as her fingers twisted the combination and shoved the button in. The creeper above her fled and as Elie jumped down her path again, the battle below ended. The floor seemed to fall out from it's self, reviling a stair way down into the pits of Sector Five.

"Lead the way." Elie said, smirking to Odd. Odd grinned back and led the group down. The stairs seemed to go on forever, but at the bottom they found an open room with a path that lead to a pedestal of some sort.

"Jeremie, there's something shiny over there." Ulrich said. Elie saw it too. A glowing green sphere that floated a few inches over the pedestal. But where were the monsters? This was to easy.

"Be careful guys. This doesn't feel right." Elie said, adjusting her grip so her daggers felt more comfortable in her hands. At the warning, the group ran forward. No one wanted to stay long. Half way across the bridge, the monsters came. Each creeper had it's own flying platform that came out of the wall and landed next to the path the group was on. It was only two at first, though more and more soon joined the fight.

"Aelita, go ahead." Elie said, killing one creeper, only to have two more take it's place. "Yumi, go with her. We'll take care of this."

"Right." Aelita and Yumi ran, though soon had to stop as the path fell away to nothing, leaving a gap of several yards between the pedestal and the pathway. Elie and Odd killed four more creepers as Ulrich took out another row. The path was clear, though more monsters were coming out of the walls.

"Move back." Odd said. "I'll take this round." Elie nodded and she and Ulrich joined Aelita. Behind her, Elie could hear Odd fighting... then dying.

Elie spun around. "You bastards!" she cried, rushing forward and attacking the creepers that killed her boyfriend. It didn't matter that he was fine back on earth, it still pissed her off. As she slashed threw monsters, Elie spun and caught a quick image of Ulrich and Yumi helping Aelita across the gap. One of the monsters got past Elie and took Yumi down. Now it was only her and Ulrich and Aelita. "GO! Aelita, get your fragment!" Elie yelled.

"Hurry up! The room's falling apart!" Jeremie warned. As Elie turned back to fight, the creepers retreated and the floor fell from under her feet. Elie braced for impact, praying it wouldn't drain away all of her life points.

Surprisingly, it didn't hurt at all. Rather than land in the mass of blue platforms below her, Elie found herself ridding on a Manta with a white Aura around it. "Franz." She knew it was him, could feel him in the data trying to save his daughter. Looking up, she saw that two more of the creatures had caught Ulrich and Aelita and had set them down next to the fragment. They had won. It was over.

Aelita put her hands on the data... and it shattered. Elie's eyes got wide. How could this be? It had been a trap, but how? XANA must have moved the fragment... "Damn it! Guys, get out of there!" Elie's monster took her to the side of the room where she hid safely against the wall. Just to be safe she Phazed so nothing would hit her. Ulrich wasn't so lucky; he got crushed under a bit of falling ceiling. Soon, only one platform was left sitting in the middle of the room with Aelita. Far below her platform was a sea of broken blue bricks.

"Help me!" Aelita screamed, looking for some way, any way, out of the room.

"Aelita, I'm still with you." Elie called, drawing the girl's attention. "It'll be ok. We can do this. Use Creativity to make a moving platform."

The girl nodded, but was soon interrupted. The Scyphozoa entered the room on the opposite side of Aelita and Elie cursed again. As the Scyphozoa started to drain Aelita's memory, Elie sang a mobile platform into existence in front of her.

To slow, it was all moving to damned slow! Elie tried to make the platform move faster, but it wouldn't and she was to far away to throw her knives. If only she were Odd. His arrows could hit the stupid thing and free Aelita. Or Yumi's fans would work. Hell, even Ulrich could use super sprint to get close enough.

Finally she was in range. She let her dagger fly, but it was to late. The Scyphozoa let Aelita's body fall limply on the ground seconds before Elie's dagger found it's mark. She jumped to the platform and started to slash with her remaining dagger until the monster fled.

Panting with fear and anger, Elie turned to see Aelita's limp body. She had been to late. Aelita was gone... The light began to fade from the room until Elie was left in pitch black. She couldn't see anything, though she felt the platform under her as she fell to her knees.

She had failed. Aelita was gone. XANA had won. Around her, Elie felt Lyoko dying.

Elie didn't know how long passed. Maybe only a few minuets? At first, Elie thought she imagined the light, but soon the glow grew to a shade of white that Elie couldn't look at. She felt life returned to Lyoko, but more importantly, to Aelita. "Franz..."

Franz Hopper was bringing his daughter back to life, though she had no idea how that was even possible. The light burned threw her and when she opened her eyes again, she stumbled out of the scanner. Odd caught her, but she was more worried about Aelita. Had she gotten out ok? Was she safe?

"Aelita?" Elie asked, worry filling her voice.

"I'm alright." She said weakly. Jeremie was holding her as if nothing could pull her away from him. Odd was holding Elie in much the same way and she turned her head to smile at him, letting him know she was fine.

Back at the school, Aelita sat on Jeremie's bed, petting Kiwi and sighing deeply. She wasn't the only one upset; everyone was slumped and sighing.

"Someone please say something funny before I have a heart attack." Odd pleaded. He was sitting on the foot of Jeremie's bed, and Elie sat on the floor leaning against his legs.

"My father sacrificed himself to save me, and we don't even know if he's still on Lyoko or not..." Aelita said, trying not to sob.

"Right... Excuse me while I have my heart attack, ok?" Odd fell back against the bed and Elie hugged his leg.

"All your memories of your life on earth... that's what XANA took from you." Jeremie said. "It's what bound you to him. But Franz managed to return them to you."

"You're free now, Aelita." Ulrich tried to smile, but the attempt fell flat.

"But so is XANA." Elie said. "Shutting the computer down won't stop him now.

"So what are we going to do?" Yumi asked.

"The same thing as always." Jeremie said firmly. "We fight. XANA may have become more powerful, but I don't think he's invincible. If he attacks, we counter attack. We'll find some way to stop XANA."

"And..." Yumi said gently. "We'll do everything we can to find your father, Aelita."

"You're right." Aelita said a bit wistfully. "After all, fighting XANA is my job."

"Our job." Elie corrected. "You're not alone in this. You've got all of us here." In one of those moments that no one wants to admit happens outside of movies or cheesy kids shows, Elie held her hand out and Aelita took it. Soon, everyone was holding hands and smiling.

"Now, I think we should celebrate." Elie said, smiling. "We still have an hour until the dance. I don't know about you guys, but I think a dance or two would do me some good. I'll even agree to quick make overs." She smiled at Aelita and she laughed.

"You might just regret that." Yumi warned, pulling Elie off of the floor and Aelita from the bed. "Boys, we'll see you in an hour."

"This is to short." Elie complained for the thousandth time.

"It is not. It looks great on you Elie." Yumi assured her.

"But..."

"No buts." Aelita said, smiling and laughing slightly. "You look amazing."

Elie wasn't sure about her own looks, but Yumi and Aelita were stunning. Aelita wore a soft pink dress with bows on the straps. It was a cute 'pure' look that worked very well on her. Yumi wore an amazing long sleeved shirt that was covered with safety pins and had a great punk goth style to it. Unlike Elie she was wearing pants. Elie, because of a lot of pleading from Aelita, was wearing a short dress that swished around her thighs playfully as she walked. She wore stockings and had opera-length gloves that came to a point between two of her fingers to show off her newly painted black nails.

Elie blushed again and pulled on the dress to try and hide more of her legs. "It's just..."

"No time to go back now. We're here." Yumi pushed Elie onto the school grounds where the boys were waiting. Elie blushed when she saw Odd, dressed up a bit, though still wearing his classic purple. Jeremie stumbled a bit as he greeted Aelita, and Ulrich completely botched his greeting. Odd grinned and offered his hand to her. Elie took it and he lead her to the dance. "You look awesome, Elie."

"You do too." She said, tugging at the dress again. She didn't have time to mess with the clothes again as Odd pulled her onto the dance floor and soon she lost herself in the music and spending time with Odd. She even laughed, which almost no one outside the group had heard before. She and Odd danced for hours, stopping only a few times to get punch or play a few pranks. spice drops in the punch became Elie's favorite when Sissi got a drink and spewed punch all over Nicolas.

After the dance, Odd took Elie to her room, still laughing and breathless. "Hey Elie?" Odd asked, leading Elie into her room.

"Yeah?" She asked. Elie couldn't remember the last time she'd had this much fun. It felt so good to let lose every once in a while. She turned to see what Odd wanted, and his lips pressed against hers. She didn't hesitate and felt herself melt against him, kissing him with a soft passion. His arms slid around her and Elie's arms went around his neck. Neither wanted to pull away, though when they heard Jim enter the hall, probably looking for people doing exactly what she and Odd had been, they sprung apart.

"Well... Good night." Odd said, blushing.

"Yeah... Good night." Elie's lips felt warm and slightly swollen from the contact. "I'll see you at breakfast."

Odd grinned his classic easy smile. "Yep. See ya." He waved and Elie closed her door just as Jim walked up to tell them to break it up. She leaned against her door, grinning like a fool and touching her still tingling lips. As she took off her make up and got ready for bed, Elie felt more hopeful than she had in ages. Sure, XANA had gotten out, but they could still fight him, and in time, they would win. And Elie was finally starting to understand more about herself. And best of all, she had found love, a man who accepted her for herself even after learning about her horrid past. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but it was more than she'd ever dared to hope for.

As she drifted to sleep, Elie found she was actually looking forward to her summer and kicking XANA's ass as they found new ways to fight him.

(( outfit for the dance: untitled_12/set?id=38073526 ))


	31. XANA's Curse Part 31: New School Year

Elie watched the Go board as Yumi and Aelita's match pressed forward. The two had been playing Go a lot over the short summer break and though the rules still baffled Elie, she loved to watch them play. Jeremie, as usual, was working on the Super Computer working on a new way to track XANA. The four of them had stayed at Kadic over the break; Ulrich had to take special tutoring classes and Odd had gone to Italy to see his family.

She hadn't realized how much she'd miss him when she chose to stay here in case XANA attacked. He'd wanted her to go with him, but that would have meant meeting his family and Elie wasn't sure she was ready for that. Regardless of what Odd said, she was still a pretty screwed up girl. What if his parents didn't like her...? Some how it mattered to her that they liked her despite her best efforts to convince herself otherwise. It didn't matter now. Odd would be back soon after all.

Sadly that would mean Ulrich's return too. The two were still friends, though the term was used very loosely. He had never forgiven Elie for her deception and took every chance he could to remind her how little he trusted her. Elie usually ignored him when he got into one of his moods, but his scorn made her feel like shit. She was already beating herself up enough, wasn't she? Why did he have to make it so much worse? Hadn't she proved herself to him yet? She doubted he'd ever treat her normally again. Maybe that wouldn't be such a problem if they weren't trying to save the world from an Evil AI and if Ulrich wasn't Odd's best friend.

"Any progress yet?" Elie asked, looking up at Jeremie. She needed something to get her mind off the boys. Those subjects were to complicated and heavy for the light afternoon.

The blond boy tapped at his keys for a bit longer then sat back and sighed. "Not yet. I feel like I'm so close though..."

"Let me have a look." Elie stood and joined Jeremie at the computer. Yumi was still thinking about her next move, so Elie didn't mind helping Jeremie out. She wasn't as good as he was, but her rather unique knowledge had come in handy several times over the summer. "Try this." Elie typed in a new set of commands and soon the scan's prototype was functional.

"Thanks Elie!" Jeremie said with a smile. "How'd you do that?"

"Mostly instinct." She admitted, though that wasn't strictly true. Every so often she would get flashes of memory or understanding. It wasn't anything like the full comprehension she got when XANA messed with her mind, but it was useful at times like this.

"I'm glad you've got good instinct then." Jeremie said, laughing lightly as he continued his work. "With that, the new scan should be done soon."

As he got back to work, Elie went back to watching Aelita and Yumi's game. Yumi was now ahead by three and a half points by Elie's estimation. In the next move, Aelita pulled ahead by half a point. As Yumi decided what her next move would be, the elevator whirred and the doors opened to revile Odd and Ulrich, finally home from their vacation.

"We're back." Ulrich said with a slight laugh as he walked into the room.

Odd sat behind Elie and wrapped his arms around her. "So, did'ja miss me?"

"You wish." Elie said, playfully shoving him. It gave her just enough space to turn in his arms and kiss him. After so long, it felt wonderful to have him back. A knot of worry she hadn't even known was there let go in her stomach. Had she really thought he'd realize he didn't actually like her while he was away? How stupid... it was like she was turning into some kind of mushy love-obsessed teen.

"It's good to have you guys back." Aelita said, smiling and clearing the Go board. Now that the guys were back, there was a lot to catch up on.

"How have things been here?" Ulrich asked, trying not to be so obviously disdainful of Odd and Elie who were still kissing.

"Fine. It's been slow and XANA attacks: zero." Yumi said, helping Aelita put the Go pieces away.

"Well, no news is good news, isn't it?" Ulrich asked, looking at Jeremie who had turned his chair to look at the group.

"Yeah right." Elie said with a sound close to a snort. "I trust XANA about as much as I trust a B rank horror film to have good writing."

Ulrich did his best to ignore Elie and continued to look at Jeremie. "So, even though XANA's online, there haven't been any attacks?"

"So far. But that's why I've been working on a new scan program. With this, we'll be able to track XANA anywhere in the world."

"Sounds great, but how does that help us?" Odd asked. He still hadn't let Elie go, a fact that was starting to piss Ulrich off.

"Well, we'll be able to see how XANA plans to use his new-found freedom. Then when he attacks, no mater where it is, we'll send you guys in to kick butt. But getting you onto the internet is quite a challenge..."

"That should be alright, though." Elie added. "For now, XANA still needs to use Lyoko and it's towers to attack, though there's no telling how long that will last."

Yumi nodded. "Right. So we're still at Square One."

"Sounds about right, but at least we've got this much done. Now, let's go. Need I remind you guys that we have to pick up our class schedules before lunch." Odd stood, helping Elie up as well.

Odd and Elie only made it about half way to the school once they were out of the sewers. Elie pulled Odd off the path and took him to one of her new favorite spots. Over the summer she'd found five places she had claimed as her own, even going so far as to leave stickers on walls or carve a mark in the trees like she would have in the old days. This spot was in the middle of a large ring of trees. When she stood in the middle, Elie couldn't see anything but forest around her.

"It's one of my new spots." She explained to Odd, pointing at the small 'E' she'd carved into one of the tree trunks. "I found a few while you were away. Coming here helped me relax. I wanted to show it to you when you got back. Well, all of them, actually but this one was closest." She slid her hand into his and sighed. "I missed you."

"I missed you too you know." Odd said, smiling at her and nodding at the area. "I still wish you'd have come to Italy with me. XANA didn't even attack. What a waste." He sighed dramatically and pulled her into a new kiss. Elie melted in his arms and her face flushed. Odd thought she was so cute when she did that...

"Right..." Elie said, pulling away with a blush. "We should get going before they send a search party for us. Besides, You'll see more of this place I think. And my other spots too." She smiled wickedly at him and before Odd could say anything, she pulled him back to the school. "Besides, I want to hear all about your trip and I've got new movies for us."

Odd smiled and fallowed, just glad to be back and to know that she hadn't forgotten about him while he'd been gone.

Back at the school, Elie scanned the class list for her name. It was easy to find, and she was pleased to see she was in the same class as Jeremie and Aelita and Ulrich. But there was a name missing from the class list...

"You're... not in our class." Elie said quietly, looking at Odd. What would happen now? If XANA attacked...

"But what will we do if XANA attacks? It was already hard enough with Yumi..." Aelita said, giving voice to Elie's thoughts.

"Even worse, I won't be able to copy off of you. My grades are going to go down the tubes... Well... I'll just have to change their mind." Odd said, then ran to the Principal's office. Elie tried to fallow, but Yumi grabbed her arm and shook her head. "Let him do it on his own."

Elie nodded. "Yeah... I guess it would just look like I wanted to be in the same class as my boyfriend..." She sighed and as the bell for lunch rang, Elie fallowed Jeremie and Aelita. Ulrich held Yumi back to ask her something, but as always William showed up and got in the way. School as usual. Now if only Odd could get his class changed...


End file.
